You are here

FAU Collections » FAU Research Repository » FAU Theses and Dissertations

FUTILE BENEVOLENCE IN THREE VONNEGUT NOVELS: "THE SIRENS OF TITAN," "CAT'S CRADLE," AND "GOD BLESS YOU, MR. ROSEWATER."

Download pdf | Full Screen View

Date Issued:
1983
Summary:
Many of Kurt Vonnegut's central characters are benevolent advocates of positive human change. Because of the absurdities of their world, these efforts are futile and doomed to failure. Rumfoord attempts "to do good for my native earth" in The Sirens of Titan, on a cosmic scale. Lionel Boyd Johnson, Bokonon, in eat's Cradle, creates a religion based on lies to lessen the awful truth. Eliot Rosewater in God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater attempts to love the "discarded" Americans of Rosewater, Indiana, on a one-to-one basis. The conflicts inherent in. Vonnegut's world cloud the motivation of these efforts but they are still sincere efforts within their pluralistic framework. The results are a mixture of positive and negative; the most positive exist on a small human scale; the most negative on a collective or institutional scale.
Title: FUTILE BENEVOLENCE IN THREE VONNEGUT NOVELS: "THE SIRENS OF TITAN," "CAT'S CRADLE," AND "GOD BLESS YOU, MR. ROSEWATER.".
255 views
33 downloads
Name(s): SWARTZEL, STEVEN BRUCE.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Coyle, William, Thesis advisor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 1983
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 107 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: Many of Kurt Vonnegut's central characters are benevolent advocates of positive human change. Because of the absurdities of their world, these efforts are futile and doomed to failure. Rumfoord attempts "to do good for my native earth" in The Sirens of Titan, on a cosmic scale. Lionel Boyd Johnson, Bokonon, in eat's Cradle, creates a religion based on lies to lessen the awful truth. Eliot Rosewater in God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater attempts to love the "discarded" Americans of Rosewater, Indiana, on a one-to-one basis. The conflicts inherent in. Vonnegut's world cloud the motivation of these efforts but they are still sincere efforts within their pluralistic framework. The results are a mixture of positive and negative; the most positive exist on a small human scale; the most negative on a collective or institutional scale.
Identifier: 14143 (digitool), FADT14143 (IID), fau:10956 (fedora)
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1983.
Subject(s): Vonnegut, Kurt--Criticism and interpretation
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14143
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.