SDSU Vonneguts God Bless You Dr Kevorkian Discussion
First part:-
Prior to beginning this discussion, be sure you have read Vonnegut’s God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian.
PROMPT
Write a discussion post of at least 200 words in which you reflect on the following:
– What do you believe Kurt Vonnegut is arguing in his individual “interviews”? Select at least THREE (3), state your perception of each, and then support each opinion with reasoning based on the remainder of the text, on your knowledge of Vonnegut’s life, etc.
You do not have to agree or disagree with Vonnegut. You are simply trying to identify his views, as expressed through his text.
To avoid confusion, start your response with the name of the interviewed person in bold font, and then post your reply.
Example:
John Brown. I believe that Vonnegut is arguing…+
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
part 2:-Respond A &B &C
A- John Brown: In my opinion, Vonnegut is arguing that John Brown was taken into “justice”, and punished for his acts even though his objective was to liberate a group of enslaved people. Based on this “interview” we can understand what took place during that time and identify that in this case; the United States claimed to be a free country while its founding fathers owned slaves. John Brown was only looking for freedom and justice for his people and because of that, he paid with his life.
Roberta Gorsuch Burke: I believe that with this short “interview” Vonnegut is arguing that years ago; the purpose of a woman was to get married and assume the “wife” role. Roberta Gorsuch Burke met her husband on a blind date, and they married four years later. They stayed together until death pulled them apart, and after reading what President Clinton told her at her husband’s funeral; “You have blessed America with your service and set an example not only for navy wives today, and to come, but for all Americans”, it is more than clear that a women’s purpose was to marry a man, and to “serve” him until death. As President Clinton said, this was a “service”, and as an American woman, this was the type of life you were expected to reach, no more than that.
Eugene Victor Debs: Through this “interview” Vonnegut is trying to share the point of view of a libertarian. One of Deb’s famous quotes shared during this short interview states that he will always be an outlier when it comes to following the rules implemented by major industries. Vonnegut tells him that his words are ridiculed nowadays and that the fastest-growing industry is the building of prisons, Debs is disappointed because that is what he stood against
—————————-
B:- It’s evident that Vonnegut is very post-modernist in the fact he likes to criticize notions of the American family and national pride. This is seen in the interview with Salvatore Biagini, where Vonnegut condemns the Vietnam War and the lives lost. He compares the death of Vietnam veterans to being killed by a dog. Obviously, this is very offensive but because Vonnegut used to be a veteran himself he could get away with it. Based on this vignette he seems very anti-war and anti-imperialism. His idea of a good America seems to be a pacifist one and it’s a no-brainer that he hates war because of his religious affiliation as a humanist.
Another interview that elucidates his post-modernist beliefs is with the case of John Brown. He condemns Thomas Jefferson by tearing down notions that America was ever “free–” that this country only supported white men to be equal. It seems that Vonnegut wants us to stray away from morality being associated with an afterlife based on how he elucidates hypocrisy with Christianity and how America’s founding was started on slavery and the Bible had verses that permitted this. In essence, he warns us from trying to validate ourselves from Biblical text and instead, we should validate ourselves by being decent people to each other. There are a lot of similarities to Immanuel Kant’s philosophy and how morality is a phenomenon and exists solely in the noumenon dimension. Kant believed that true altruism was being kind to others without receiving anything in return. This ties into the Thomas Jefferson commentary because he didn’t write the words “All men are created equal” to actually mean it. There might have been an ulterior motive in the aspect that the founding fathers solely wanted power over their country and used righteous ideas to seize power from Britain. Thus, Vonnegut hints at calling Jefferson “an evil man.” This is extremely post-modernist, tearing down the notion that the old America was all about equality and rights for all. Anything to make him feel better.
The interview with Roberta Gorsuch Burke tears down the idea of traditional marriage. Vonnegut uses Bill Clinton an in effort to juxtapose how women were expected to be good wives while men didn’t have such expectations placed on them to be good husbands. This is post-modernist in the fact that he’s commentating on the idea of the nuclear family and maybe hinting at the fact: why should women be constrained to being housewives when their husbands have all the freedom to do whatever they want: cheat, etc. He believes that Christianity’s influence on making people better is infinitesimal at best. Bill Clinton himself is Christian but couldn’t stay loyal to his wife. Equal rights for all, but African Americans were slaves. To love thy neighbor, yet America marches into Vietnam and kills innocent people as well as their soldiers.
This is a post-modernist piece and unapologetically so.
——————————————————–
C:- Salvatore Biagini:
I believe Kurt Vonnegut argues a lot the absurdity of war because Salvatore’s interview compared him giving his life for his dog more precious then giving his life in the Viet nam war for nothing. He clearly isn’t a big fan of the war.
Birnum Bitnum:
Vonnegut appears to argue about the importance of humanism and empathy when talking about the interview with Bitnum because he goes on to explain how he was part of the native Australians and was one of the few to survive a genocide. This can express a concern for the well being of humanity and how easily we tend to forget what actually happened in this world.
John Brown:
I believe John had one of the most important interviews because it was one of the longest and it talked about societal norms at the time of slavery. He mentions how John was killed due to his plan of passing out weapons and how his men were killed as well and how slavery was all legal in this country. It exposes American culture and the absurdity people have to live through.
These interviews align with Vonnegut’s beliefs because he shares his own experiences about war, his human values, questioning established norms, and many more ideas.
Collepals.com Plagiarism Free Papers
Are you looking for custom essay writing service or even dissertation writing services? Just request for our write my paper service, and we'll match you with the best essay writer in your subject! With an exceptional team of professional academic experts in a wide range of subjects, we can guarantee you an unrivaled quality of custom-written papers.
Get ZERO PLAGIARISM, HUMAN WRITTEN ESSAYS
Why Hire Collepals.com writers to do your paper?
Quality- We are experienced and have access to ample research materials.
We write plagiarism Free Content
Confidential- We never share or sell your personal information to third parties.
Support-Chat with us today! We are always waiting to answer all your questions.
