Kurt Vonnegut , Breakfast of Champions

1. Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions • 1492. As children we were taught to memorize this year with pride and joy as the year people began living full and imaginative lives on the continent of North America. Actually, people had been living full and imaginative lives on the continent of North America for hundreds of years before that. 1492 was simply the year sea pirates began to rob, cheat, and kill them. Vonnegut presents a different perspective of a common event: what is it? Why do you think school children are taught to respect the date? Is it right to teach this to children? What can you conclude about Vonnegut and his writing based on this quote? Would he and Swift be friends? Explain.

2. “Harrison Bergeron” Kurt Vonnegut A warning about the FUTURE

3. Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007) • A blend of comedy, satire, science fiction and politics. • Humanist

4. “Harrison Bergeron” • First published in 1961 in the Magazineof Fantasy and Science Fiction. • SATIRE • Enforced Equality • Political abuse of power (Handicapper General) • Enervating effects of TV

5. Finally Equal • Capitalism gone • American democracy gone • Consider the fact that this short story was published in 1961 • What does the elimination of advantages, difference, and competition suggest concerning the nature of the changes that have taken place? • Is this possible in America? Should it be? • Barbie dolls—original vs. now? • Sports—every one gets a chance; medals to all; not keeping score

6. Vonnegut’s Satire Political commentary using Exaggeration- an overstatement Understatement-opposite of exaggeration; using a statement, often in the negative, to create comedic effect. Farce-form of lowcomedy designed to provoke laughter through highly exaggerated caricatures of people in improbable or silly situations. Irony-saying/doing one thing while meaning another. When the opposite of what is expected to happen occurs Mockery: An absurd misrepresentation or imitation of something. While reading, every time you see an example of these tools being used, jot it down…you may or may not find all of them, but you should find several examples for a few.

7. SATIRE • Enforced Equality • “Handicaps” • Ear radios (intelligence) • Bags of bird shot (strength) • Masks (physical beauty) • Political abuse of power • Handicapper General • “Do or Die” • Exempt from law? • Enervating effects of TV • Hazel: how did she become “normal”; she has some reasoning skills, but only thinks in short bursts—does TV do this to us? • George: acceptance of the “normal”; no rebellion; desensitized to violence and ignorant to truth—can TV do this? Neil Postman: Amusing Ourselves to Death “this ensemble of electronic techniques called into being a new world– a peek-a-boo world, where now this event, no that, pops into view for a moment, then vanishes again. It is a world without much coherence or sense […] like the child’s game of peek-a-boo entirely self contained. But like peek-a-boo, it is also endlessly entertaining” (77).

8. What we can extract • Importance freedom, civil rights, and even social status • Strong vs. Weak—mental, physical, emotional etc. • Dangers of dystopian (degraded, oppressive state) society • The more the government controls the less the public knows and the more ignorant they become • Ignorance should not be bliss, though Hazel seems to embody this cliché • Failure to appreciate uniqueness could lead to this kind of apathy

9. Complete analysis handout with your partner 10 minutes