Destruction or Creation?
When first assigned the project “How to NOT Read Vonnegut,” it seemed quite destructive and odd. I mean, I feel like if any humanities major […]
The Pursuit of “Happiness”
I’m not entirely sure what new ideas I could apply to Adam by Kurt Vonnegut, but I do know that the story beautifully expressed certain ideas that I’ve held for a while. My late great-grandmother Johanna had escaped the Holocaust when she was younger, being part of a small number of Jewish refugees who stealthily slipped into Portugal and Spain
Mortality and Immortality
Reading Time: 2 minutes I really enjoyed using my imagination to picture the worlds that Vonnegut described in “Unready to Wear” and “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.” Besides realizing […]
being human
As was expressed by many in class on Tuesday, I have found Vonnegut’s writing extremely enjoyable to read. He is an excellent storyteller, and this set of short stories made me feel the same as the last. As I was reading these, all I could think of was how each of Vonnegut’s stories offer up […]
Death: It’s Inevitable.
In Vonnegut’s short story “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow,” he presents us with the concept of indefinite lifespans. Everyone on Earth has been taking a […]
Immortality and “theology of the body” with Kurt Vonnegut
In his stories “Unready to Wear” and “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow,” Vonnegut present us with two vastly different pictures of human immortality. In “Unready to Wear,” humans have learned to become amphibious—that is, they have learned to exist in […]
Beware of brain waves that change the world
Though clearly science fiction, Vonnegut’s story about the Barnhouse effect brought to mind strange phenomena that really exist in our world and their consequences on the way we live. For example, I recently read an article about brain-to-brain interfaces that allow individuals to communicate without saying anything, without even having to see each other. TheContinue reading “Beware of brain waves that change the world”
2081: Who Knows What Could Happen?
Kurt Vonnegut’s short story, Harrison Bergeron, invites the reader to ask what about the story is real and how our society may be moving toward a state of ignoring based reality. In 2081, there are at least 213 amendments to The Constitution, and “equality” has finally been achieved! At one point, Harrison’s mother, Hazel, asserts … Continue reading “2081: Who Knows What Could Happen?”
Linguistic discoveries
Have you ever tried to count the number of times you’ve used the word “like” in a conversation? Or put your hand in front of your mouth to feel the puff of air that accompanies the ‘p’ sound in the word “port” (but not in the word “sport”)? You may or may not have wonderedContinue reading “Linguistic discoveries”
Reading Closely and Using Sparingly
I thought that Ben Blatt’s “Use Sparingly” was interesting. In the text, he discusses Hemingway’s opinion against adverbs and tries to see if he can figure out if there is any actual proof behind it. Specifically, Blatt focuses on -ly adverbs only. At first, I just thought that how often an author used adverbs was … Continue reading “Reading Closely and Using Sparingly”
