Annie Dillard's A Pilgrim At Tinker Creek and Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five
Throughout history people in general have tried in countless ways to explain the presence of a ‘higher being’. It is basic human nature to wonder about such things. Each and every one of these people has come up with a different explanation for their interpretation of the spiritual power. Annie Dillard and Kurt Vonnegut have given wonderful examples of how these interpretations can differ in their respective books A Pilgrim At Tinker Creek and Slaughterhouse-Five. Each of these books, although covering broad topics throughout, has focused on one center-point: The explanation of why we are here and what it is that we are supposed to do as people.
In A Pilgrim At Tinker Creek, author Annie Dillard offers a look into her thoughts by publishing her journal of daily activities while living in a rural area. These activities range from taking walks by the creek to pondering the meanings of life by analyzing a praying-mantis egg sac. Each and every one of her journals offers a deep insight into the spiritual world, not by a particular ‘God’ but more through daily interactions with nature. A pilgrim is described as one who travels far, or in strange lands, to visit some holy place or shrine as a devotee. Dillard is simply that. Many people think that Dillard was inspired to write this novel by a near-fatal attack of pneumonia in 1971. She was remembered as saying that after she recovered, she felt an insatiable need to ‘experience life more fully’. She spent four seasons living near Tinker Creek in an attempt to find herself. What she found was not only how to live a full life, but also religion. Her attempt to find meaning is made very apparent in the beginning of her book. “We wake, if we ever wake at all, to mystery, rumors of death, beauty, violence...."Seem like we're just set down here," a woman said to me recently, "and don't nobody know why."” (Dillard, 4). These are vexing questions to us all, and Dillard was determined to explore them.
The most significant journeys are always the ones that transform us, from which we emerge changed in some way. In Paulo Coelho’s modern classic novel The Alchemist, and Robert Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken, the journey that is undertaken by the central exponents leaves both with enlightening knowledge that alters their lives irrevocably. In stark contradiction to this, Ivan Lalic’s poem Of Eurydice , delves into the disruptive and negative force of knowledge, in contrast to The Alchemist which details an antithesis of this point relative to knowledge. In all journeys, the eventuality of knowledge is a transformative one.
While the Yanomamo travel for several weeks when the jungle fruits and vegetables are ripe, they are a tribal society settled in villages, which break into small groups to go off on collecting expeditions. During such expeditions, game such as wild pigs, large and small birds, monkeys, deer, rodents, and anteaters, are hunted. The bulk of the Yanomamo food, more than eighty percent, is grown in their village gardens. The size of the garden is dictated by the size of the family it must feed. Because village headmen will have the responsibility of entertaining visitors and sponsoring feasts, they plant and care for larger plots. Plantain is their most important domesticated crop. Manioc, taro, and sweet potatoes are also cultivated along with cane, used for arrow manufacture, and tobacco, a crop of central importance. All women, men, and children chew tobacco daily and guard it jealously. The Yanomamo word for being poor is literally translated as without tobacco. Cotton is also grown in the village gardens to provide the materials for hammocks and clothes. The Yanomamo envision the universe as having four layers hovering at...
Nineteen Eighty-Four written by George Orwell and Gattaca directed by Andrew Niccol are prophetic social commentaries which explore the broad social wrong of a totalitarian government. Both texts depict a futuristic, dystopian society in which individuality is destroyed in favour of faceless conformity. Niccol and Orwell through the experiences of their protagonists reflect the impact isolation from society has on individuals. The authors of both texts also use their protagonists Winston, who cannot understand the rhetoric of the government party and Vincent, who is trapped, unable to achieve his dreams because of his imperfect genome, to demonstrate individual rebellion against society and explore the significant social injustices of a totalitarian state.
One of the best, most valuable aspects of reading multiple works by the same author is getting to know the author as a person. People don't identify with Gregor Samsa; they identify with Kafka. Witness the love exhibited by the many fans of Hemingway, a love for both the texts and the drama of the man. It's like that for me with Kurt Vonnegut, but it strikes me that he pulls it off in an entirely different way.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Fahrenheit 451 share two main characters that are seemingly lost in the unknown. Both Chief Bromden and Guy Montag are protagonist in the respective novels. These two characters both have a false sense of reality; however, this is the only reality they know. Bromden and Montag have little sense of what the world they live in has to offer. However things start to change for both of these men when they start to receive guidance from their counterparts, Randle McMurphy and Clarisse McClellan. Both of these characters become the catalyst for the freedom and liberation that Bromden and Montag come to find.
Of all the qualities in a hero, the ones that make helping a heroic act are honesty, wisdom, dedication and conviction, which John from Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher and Clarisse from Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury portray. John and Clarisse are both honest about everything no matter what anyone says or thinks. They also take the wisdom they gain from their experiences, and use it to create a positive impact on those that they are helping. The level of dedication that John shows is one side of a pole while Clarisse’s level of dedication is on the other. Clarisse puts more conviction into changing perspective, since she does this just by staying true to her opinion. John and Clarisse both show honesty and wisdom in their actions when they are helping people, but they differ in the level of dedication that makes them heroes and heroines.
Kurt Vonnegut’s anti-war science fiction novel entitled, Slaughter House Five otherwise known as “The Children’s Crusade” or “A Duty Dance with Death,” is a classic example of Vonnegut’s eccentric and moving writing capabilities.Originally published in 1969, Slaughterhouse-Five pays tribute to Vonnegut’s experiences in World War Two, as an advanced scout in the 106th infantry division, a prisoner of war and witness to the firebombing of Dresden on February 13th, 1945 in which 135,000 people were killed, making it the greatest man-caused massacre of all times.This novel illustrates the cruelties and violence of war along with the potential for compassion in human nature and all that it encompasses.
Themes of Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt vonnegut and Catch 22 by Joseph Heller In the books, Slaughter House 5 by Kurt Vonnegut and Catch 22 by Joseph Heller there are many themes that at first don’t appear to be related but once given a closer look have striking similarities. Both books are about one mans experience through World War II, one being a fighter pilot and another being a soldier. Each man is known as an anti-war hero. They do not agree with the war and do not find it appropriate to fight for it.
Kurt Vonnegut’s background had an endless influence upon his writing. In his early years, Vonnegut was a private in the 106th infantry division in World War II. He and five scouts were caught behind enemy lines, and then captured. They were held POWs and were beaten on various occasions. In 1945, they witnessed the fire-bombing of Dresden, Germany. Kept during this time in a slaughterhouse, this is part of the inspiration for Slaughterhouse-five. After being released from the Slaughterhouse, Vonnegut called Dresden “utter destruction” and “carnage unfathomable”. This distressing time in his life led to one of the many themes of Slaughterhouse-five which is that nothing good can come from war and a massacre. This theme is expressed in the story when Billy Pilgrim says “Birds were talking. One bird said to Billy Pilgrim ’Poo-tee-weet?’” After the bombing, the POWs had to gather the bodies for a mass grave and then all the remains were set on fire. Vonnegut and the other prisoners were only there for a few more months, until they were rescued. The lasting effect this awful war caused Vonnegut had significant affect upon his writing; on return to the U.S., he was awarded a purple heart.
One type of engine is a called a fuel cell. A fuel cell operates like a battery. Unlike a battery, a fuel cell does not run down or require recharging. It will produce energy in the form of electricity and heat as long as fuel is supplied. A fuel cell consists of two electrodes sandwiched around and electrolyte. Oxygen passes over one electrode and hydrogen over the other, generating electricity, water and heat. Hydrogen fuel is used to make all this work. Fuel cell emissions are nothing but water vapor.
The central image that Frost presents, which is the path, provides a clear picture that the reader can focus on in order to reveal something about the poem. The “two roads diverged in a yellow wood'; vividly portray the fact that it is always difficult to make a decision because it is impossible not to wonder about the opportunity that will be missed out on. There is a strong sense of regret before the choice is even made and it lies in the knowledge that in one lifetime, it is impossible to travel down every path that one encounters. In an attempt to make a decision, the traveler "looks down one as far as I could." The road that will be chosen leads to the unknown, as does any choice in life. As much as he may strain his eyes to see how far the road stretches, eventually it surpasses his vision and he can never see where it is going to lead. It is the path that he chooses that sets him off on his journey and determines where he is going and what he will encounter.
The existence of god has been relentlessly debated with many strong arguments. This essay will primarily discuss the most prevalent arguments for and against the existence of a higher being. Although there are many strong arguments for both atheism and theism, ultimately the theist point of view is greater justified morally and logically.
Smith, Andrew. "Chapter Nine: Life After Death." 2014. A Secular View of God. 12 May 2014 .
Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five That we, people, are "bugs in amber" is one of the main themes of Kurt Vonnegut's novel Slaughterhouse-Five; or Children's Crusade. Tom Stoppard's play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is, in my opinion, very similar to this book. While Slaugterhouse-Five is an American novel, a mixture of the author's Second World War experiences and science fiction genre, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is a British play set into William Shakespeare's Hamlet.
The poem entitled “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost is perhaps one of the most well-known poems to date. Frost’s poem explores the different paths and choices individuals are presented with throughout their life, which can later influence their lives significantly more than originally anticipated. Specifically, Frost describes a fork in the road at which the narrator must choose between two very different paths with varying outcomes. “The Road Not Taken” emphasizes the importance of taking the less traveled road through Frost’s usage of a wide range of literary devices. “The Road Not Taken” suggests that individuals should fully experience the process of making a choice before reaching a decision as that one single choice may later have