Breakfast+of+Champions+by+Kurt+Vonnegut,+Jr.



//__ The Breakfast of Champions __//



 Summary:


 * Plot- Kilgore Trout is a science fiction writer that is to deliver a "speech" at a local arts festival in Midland City. Dwayne Hoover is a wealthy businessman who owns basically all of Midland City. Dwayne however is mentally unstable and is starting to become insane. Kilgore arrives in Midland City and takes interest Dwayne. A confused Dwayne asks Kilgore for a message and Kilgore hands him a copy of his novel. Dwayne reads the novel and in the novel is a message from the Creator of the Universe aka God explaining that whoever is reading the novel is the only person in the universe that is "free" and that everyone else is a robot. Dwayne believes the novel is the truth and goes berserk. He starts to beat on people including his son and lover and nine other people before going into a mental home.


 * Conflict- There is a transition of slavery being more accepted in the novel. There are still black servants during this time.


 * Setting- The novel takes place mainly in Midland City. Dwanye Hoover and Kilgore Trout also travel to other cities such as New York and Philly.


 * Themes- Humans constantly rely on machinery to do all their work and they wont do it themselves. Also that God is the one who rules over all.

Characters:


 * Bill- Kilgore's parakeet and also his best friend.
 * Bonnie MacMahon- Cocktail waitress at the Holiday Inn. Bonnie makes the same joke every time she serves a customer a martini: "Breakfast of Champions."
 * Bunny Hoover- Dwayne's homosexual son, his real name is actually George.
 * Celia Hoover- Dwayne's wife, she killed herself by drinking Drano.
 * Cyprian Ukwende- Black intern at the Country Hospital, he is Nigerian.
 * Delmore Skag- A character in one of Trout's novels. He is a scientist who discovers a way to reproduce himself by combining cells from his right hand with chicken soup.
 * Don Breedlove- A gas-conversion unit installer, the only person who Dwayne hurt and "deserved" it. He raped Patty Keene in the parking lot of George Hickman Bannister Memorial Fieldhouse.
 * Dwayne Hoover- Crazy physco who enjoys Kilgore's reading. He believes that everyone in the world is a robot.
 * Patty Keene- Raped by Don Breedlove, but never reported the incident to the police because she was too busy with her fathers sickness.
 * Kilgore Trout - Main character in the novel. He has married three woman and has only one son who left when he was 14 and never came back. Trout is a science-fiction writer, and is a nobody. He feels as if he has no impact on the world and hopes he would die.
 * Lottie Davis- Dwayne's servant who comes from black ancestry.
 * Lyle and Kyle Hoover- Dwayne's stepbrothers.
 * The manager- Person who got attacked by the Pluto Gang with Kilgore.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Mary Young- Oldest person in Midland City.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sparky- Dwayne's Labrador retriever

<span style="font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Literary Devices: Metaphors- Kilgore called mirrors "leaks" because he believed that mirrors were holes in between two universes.

Symbolism- The author mentions tombstones in the novel. He is inferring that humans will eventually be gone but not forgotten.

<span style="font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;"> Literary Criticism: = = By James Lundquist - Vonnegut's emphasis on the need for self-respect and his belief in the necessity of pacifism point to traits of character that are, one may argue, very much midwestern. Vonnegut's work can be read almost as if it is designed to illustrate attitudes that John T. Flanagan … sees as particularly midwestern: "individualism, self-reliance, a practical materialism, skepticism of custom and tradition unless rooted in <span class="IL_AD">common sense, <span class="IL_AD">political intransigence, and isolationism explained and heretofore justified by the geographical barriers and almost antagonistic apathy of the Old World."

By Clark Mayo - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. is a Cosmic Fool, a clown who laughs at the world's failings and sorrows (and tries to tease, cajole and seduce us into laughing at them, too), rather than be overwhelmed by them (though sometimes it is touch and go). His satirical commentaries on business, war, politics, machine technology, organized religion, and organizations in general expose the foibles and inhumanities of a society of which he is always highly critical. Yet his satire and cosmic pessimism are paradoxically countered by his humor, gentleness and kindness, as well as his comic energy and individual optimism.

<span style="font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;"> Author Biography:



Kurt Vonnegut was born on November 11, 1922 and died on April 11, 2007. He is an American novelist from Indiana. not only was he a novelist but he was also an essayist and a dramatist. His style is based on science fiction, satire, and black humor. When he was 22 years old his mother committed suicide. His father had a architecture business until the great depression came around and ruined it all. He had very close relations with his father which helped sculpt his career and the ways he wrote. He married two times and he had six children. He stressed the importance of family in his writings. In 1943 Vonnegut enlisted in the army during WWII. In 1952 his first novel was published Player Piano and since then he kept on writing.

<span style="font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Personal Review: The novel was pretty confusing at first. The way the story opens had my mind everywhere and i had to restart and reread many pages over and over again. But after i got the concept of the book i enjoyed it a little more. One thing i didn't like about the book was the ignorance in some of the chapters. They commented on a man who was mentally challenged as an idiot because of his actions. Other than that i would recommend this book only to people who enjoy books with meanings that need to be investigated to find out. And also to people who like science fiction type of books.

<span style="font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Bibliography: Mayo, Clark. //Bookrags//. Web. 19 May 2010. <http:www.bookrags.com/criticism/vonnegut-kurt-jr-1922-crit5_21/>.

Kurt Vonnegut & Origami Express LLC. "Kurt Vonnegut -- Vonnegut.com." //VONNEGUT•COM -- The Official Website of Kurt Vonnegut//. 2007. Web. 20 May 2010. <http://www.vonnegut.com/news.asp>

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">"Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand"