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" (41). Through these twists and turns, we can see Vonnegut's exploration of sex, sexiness, and age. He utilizes humor and irony to highlight social contradictions and, perhaps, to point out timeless truths about what makes us human.
Another of Vonnegut's trademark literary tools is the use of outright jokes. In this story, Billy the Poet woos his women with poetry, and most of the poems are lewd: "Soak yourself in Jergen's Lotion; Here comes the one man population explosion," (Vonnegut, 1968: 37). The use of humor contributes to Vonnegut's accessibility and helped him become a cult hero for thousands of readers over the years.
Conclusion
Vonnegut may be writing superficially light fiction, but no reader will be fooled. Indeed, he "is ultimately writing about the universal human condition and that he only employs science fiction devices to create distance and irony, just as he employs satire to the same effect." (Kurt Vonnegut). His unique blend of science fiction and irony brings our unspoken social assumptions to the forefront of our awareness. Perhaps most powerfully, he forces the reader to question timeless ethical dilemmas, and in true post-modernist form, he shows us that everything is relative. In a world where the government...
(1991). Understanding Kurt Vonnegut. University of South
Carolina Press: South Carolina.
Davis, Todd F. (2006). Kurt Vonnegut's Crusade: Or, How a Postmodern Harlequin
Preached a New Kind of Humanism. State University of New York Press:
Albany, N.Y.
Hayman, David, et.al. 1977. Interview with Kurt Vonnegut. The Paris Review (69) 64.
Hume, Kathryn. (1990). Kurt Vonnegut and the Myths and Symbols of Meaning. In Critical Essays on Kurt Vonnegut, Ed. Robert Merrill. G.K. Hall & Co: Boston, Mass.
Kurt Vonnegut. Literary Criticism.
Available at: http://www.enotes.com/contemporary-literary-criticism/vonnegut-kurt
Levitas, Mitchel. 1968. Books of the Times: A Slight Case of Candor. The New York
Times Book Review. August 19th. Available at:
http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/09/28/lifetimes/vonnegut-monkey.html
Rider, Shawn. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.: So It Goes. Available at:
http://www.wdog.com/rider/writings/KVJ_soitgoes.htm
Vonnegut, Kurt. 1968. Welcome to the Monkey House. The Dial Press: New York, N.Y.
Works Cited
Allen, William Rodney. (1991). Understanding Kurt Vonnegut. University of South
Carolina Press: South Carolina.
Davis, Todd F. (2006). Kurt Vonnegut's Crusade: Or, How a Postmodern Harlequin
Preached a New Kind of Humanism. State University of New York Press:
Available at: http://www.enotes.com/contemporary-literary-criticism/vonnegut-kurt
http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/09/28/lifetimes/vonnegut-monkey.html
http://www.wdog.com/rider/writings/KVJ_soitgoes.htm
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