Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
Vonnegut, Kurt;
Abstract
An essential trademark of Kurt Vonnegut's fiction is the constant cross-over of characters and settings. Both reappear again and again in the mythical universe Vonnegut has created. But it is Kilgore Trout that emerges as the most important and functional cross-over character that Vonnegut utilizes. He has attained this status because of his demonstrated significance in the three novels he appears in. First, as a supporting character in the novels God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater and Slaughterhouse-Five Trout becomes the central figure in Breakfast of Champions. He also is used as the key linking agent between the characters, plots and themes of these novels. Second, Trout has a more intimate relationship with Vonnegut than any other cross-over character. Trout's occupation as a writer, his "science-fiction hack" reputation and his resemblance to Vonnegut's father all connect him directly to Vonnegut. Third, Kilgore Trout is the dominant cross-over figure; no other character has the unique importance to make his interpolation necessary. Trout stands alone as the pivotal personage in all three of his appearances. In God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater Trout is the key to the message of the novel. In Slaughterhouse-Five Trout's offbeat character is developed and he functions as a comparison for Billy Pilgrim's extra-terrestial ideas. In Breakfast of Champions Trout becomes one of the two leading characters and he alone of all the cross-over figures faces his Creator, Vonnegut, in a show-down at the novel's end. Fourth, Trout becomes the source for much of Vonnegut's humor via his fabulist writings. The bizarre science-fiction stories allow Vonnegut to inject his updated "one-liners" and black comedy through them. Fifth, Trout enacts the role of philosopher as Vonnegut's alterego and direct participant in the narrative. Trout's tales function as Vonnegut's epistemological ideas, reflecting and enlarging the messages of his novels. They also allow Vonnegut to comment and satirize on a broad scope of topics in a concise manner. To fully explore all the subtle dimensions and ramifications in the characterization of Kilgore Trout, I analyzed and critically evaluated him in these separate categories:
-TROUT AS A MESSIAH OF SOCIAL PROGRAMS
-TROUT AS VONNEGUT THE SCIENCE-FICTION WRITER
-TROUT AS VONNEGUT'S "IMAGINATION VALVE" FOR HIS "ONE LINER"II STORIES
-TROUT AS THE KEY LINKING AGENT AMONG THE THREE NOVELS
-TROUT AS VONNEGUT'S MODERN-DAYPHILOSOPHER AND ADVANCED LITERA PSYCHOLOGIST
-TROUT AS VONNEGUT'S FATHER AND INDIANA PAST
Year of Submission
1977
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Department of English Language and Literature
First Advisor
Jerome Klinkowitz
Second Advisor
Thomas Remington
Third Advisor
Howard Knutson
Date Original
1977
Object Description
1 PDF file (71 leaves)
Copyright
©1977 Rodney Drake
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Drake, Rodney, "The Use, Function and Importance of Kilgore Trout in the Novels of Kurt Vonnegut, Junior" (1977). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 2510.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/2510
Comments
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