What would Vonnegut think?

Kurt Vonnegut was sent to war to fight and could have lost his life due to dangers, but he lived instead leaving him with a lot to think about regarding danger and the absurdity of life's way of working. This suggests that Vonnegut would have thought distracted driving was dangerous and avoidable. An article by Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library written by author WilliamRodney Allen explains similar ideas. In this article Allen states, “Vonnegut and his fellow POWs survived by accident only because they were housed some 60 feet underground in a former meat locker and slaughterhouse” and “His experience at Dresden marked him for life and eventually resulted in his literary masterpiece, Slaughterhouse-Five" (Allen). In this article, Allen mentions how Vonnegut was sent to clean up the deceased bodies after the war, ultimately leaving him traumatized and more aware of dangers. Another essay was written by author Kim Guise who holds a BA degree in German and Judaic studies from University of Massachusetts Amherst. Guise said, “Vonnegut’s service during World War II imprinted his life, like it did for many of those who served and who witnessed the trauma of war, destruction, and death” (Guise). Although Vonnegut never said he thought distracted driving is dangerous, his life experiences demonstrated a scared mindset due to WorldWar II and showed that he believed that being unaware of his surroundings could have resulted in his death. Thus, leaning towards the thought that distracted driving is dangerous, but also being unaware could be worse.

Horath 2Vonnegut's brother-in-law played a huge role in his fear of danger being caused by distraction. An article by William Rodney Allen says, “Vonnegut’s beloved sister Alice Adams died of cancer in 1957, just two days after her husband had been killed in a freak commuter train crash” (Allen). Due to this crash, Vonnegut was forced to make more money because he now had guardianship over his sister's children. If it were not for the dangers of a train wreck, he most likely would not have written and published so many novels. Because of the train accident, and his sister dying of cancer within such a brief time span, he realized how many dangers there are in the world, and how a small distraction can throw the entire trajectory of life off the rails. Throughout Vonnegut's career, he incorporated “Black Humor” into his literature to cope with his trauma. His objective was to silently reach for help through his writing in an attempt tosave himself (Kurt Vonnegut American Novelist). Because of the sense of hopelessness and unsolvable trauma, Vonnegut attempted suicide by sleeping pills and alcohol in 1984, and he wrote about it in a compiled biography in 1991 called “Fates Worth than Death” (Manikowski).In “Breakfast of Champions,” also written by Vonnegut, he says, “Our awareness is all that is alive and sacred to any of us. Everything else about us is dead machinery.” Kurt displayed aheavy outlook that life and its dangers were inevitable, but at least we have awareness when we have nothing else. Vonnegut's ideas of unavoidable tragedies correspond with the fact that he would have reason to think that distracted driving is dangerous, but also unavoidable in some ways.Although there are ways to avoid certain danger, some people hit it head on. Vonnegut's mother had committed suicide with sleeping pills. Imagine living a life of pure trauma andunavoidable uncertainty. If it were not for these horrible experiences, he probably would not have written as well as he did with as much detail as possible, therefore resulting in no fame or fortune.

Horath 3After getting frostbite, he was released from the Army. Due to his dedication and remarkable service, he was rewarded with a Purple Heart (Manikowski). A Purple Heart is a reward given to U.S. members of the Armed Forces wounded or killed against an enemy while in active duty. Due to the experiences in Vonnegut’s life, he did not turn to a God in search of prayer or salvation. Instead, he questioned the absurdity of life. In the 1970’s, Vonnegut and his wife divorced due to different religious outlooks(Manikowski). His wife, Jane Marie Cox, explored Christianity while Vonnegut stuck with his atheism. He did not believe in a God because the events in his life had traumatized him so badly that his hope for a God did not exist. Typically, atheists view the purpose of life as a random process with no true meaning. Hence the fact that he does not fear danger but attempts to prevent it. If Vonnegut would have believed in God, he would have the same outlook on life due to his horrific traumatic events.Even with every life altering event, Vonnegut continued to write and publish his books. It was a way to express deep and dark feelings with words, but without any noise. If he were alive in today's world, he would more than likely have strong feelings about the rising number of crashes caused by distracted driving. Whether it be texting while driving or being intoxicated behind the wheel, it is all considered distractive (Dangers and Statistics). Vonnegut would think that danger is unavoidable, but you can avoid distractions that could save your life. When humans choose to participate in distracted driving, we are ultimately denying our morality. We know that if we happen to look down at our phone at the wrong time or lean over the seat to find a pair of glasses that fell in the floor, we could end up getting into a wreck and getting seriously injured, killed, or hurting others. Despite these terrible outcomes for such small distractions, why do we still do it? Vonnegut would examine the complete and utter absurdity of

Horath 4this problem. Imagine a teenager crashed into the back of a semi-truck because they were too busy changing the song or taking a selfie for snapchat. Vonnegut would probably laugh and put a pencil to paper, or in our case fingers to a keyboard.Distracted driving is a spot on example of Vonnegut’s entire life examination. Life ends in death, and that is inevitable, but it can be prevented. He wrote books on the pure absurdity of life and the human ways of messing it up. This is a prime example of something that he could fill anentire book about. If Kurt Vonnegut was still alive today, he would have a serious opinion of absurdity about distracted driving and humans' natural failure when it comes to restraint from things we should not do.Overall, Vonnegut would feel as though distracted driving is dangerous, and inevitable by human nature, but can be prevented in some aspects. Humans cannot control our every craving to make mistakes, no matter how bad the consequences are. However, we can try our best and Vonnegut would probably respect the effort but wouldn’t be satisfied. He might say that trying is good, but dying is forever. Once you crash and die, that is the end of your story. To conclude, Kurt Vonnegut would hate distracted driving but be very interested, because it proves his hankering for the absurdity of humans and life.