Behind Vonnegut Lies A Curtain Analysis

Brenda Alvarez

Mrs. Rollings

Honors English 10 - Period 4

May 6 2014

Behind Vonnegut Lies A Curtain

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. was an ordinary man, a great father and an extraordinary writer. He was born in indianapolis Indiana. As a fourth generation German-American, he would later serve in the Second World War. He had the capability to include spaceships,vulgarity, and childish characteristics while still causing his readers to learn crucial life lessons. Yet the most interesting thing is what was behind his curtain. It is what captivated, intrigued, and how he analyzed the Midwestern region that would eventually differentiate him from other authors. Kurt Vonnegut was inspired by technological advances, the effects of WWII, and humanity.

The 1920’s are also known as the Roaring Twenties in American history. And without denying that there were many hardships in everyday life throughout the world, it appeared that in the United States, that was less the case. Especially in the Midwestern region which prospered under machinery advancements in everyday life (HLS). Thousands would receive work by companies such as Ford and General Motors in the Midwest. Cars became affordable to the majority. And since the Vonnegut family was a prosperous one, Kurt Jr.’s earliest years would be a blissful one. They would be blissful in fact, until he was in the 3rd grade.

By the time Kurt Jr. was in the 3rd grade, the depression had made his family penniless. He would be pulled from his private school and sent to a public school for the remainder of his education. Yet the world around him, especially technology-wise, would continued to go on “ The time was long past when one nation could seem more glorious than another by hurling some h...

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...e few oases where a Native

American were treated equal lies right by Fall Creek. Vonnegut was nothing if not a Hoosier.

One could debate that who he or she is, is decided by themselves. And to a certain extent they are correct. How we perceive ourselves and alter ourselves after major events in life are to his or her own’s. But it is the series of uncontrollable events, places, and deaths that create the majority of what is behind each of our curtains. Kurt Vonnegut was certainly inspired by the midwest as any other Midwesterner. he was alike in the most interesting aspect of American history of the Roaring 20’s, The Great Depression, WWII, The Cold War, The Stormy Sixties, and the Stalemated Seventies. Yet time upon time, novel upon novel, he went back to his roots from the Midwest to confirm or reflect on his beliefs.