A Unique Vision of the End and Everything In Between
             Thesis: Through his novels, Kurt Vonnegut expresses his distrust of technology, opposition to religion and fear of a rapidly evolving society. I. Introduction II. Kurt Vonnegut distrusts the rapid movement towards an automated human race. A. The theme in some of Vonnegut's novels and short stories is that humankind needs to move away from a reliance on technology. 1. Vonnegut's novels are like an outline for what we shouldn't let happen. 2. The basis for Player Piano is a machine run America and the what happens when people realize their own selves and that they are not a shell of a machine. B. Vonnegut's solution to the rapid movement towards letting machines take precedence over humans is that we rely more on each other than technology. 1. "The Ghost Shirt Society" in Player Piano unites to attempt to take back their lives from the machines. 2. After the rebellion against the machines, Ilium becomes a sort of human co-op, with everyone beginning to clean away the rubble and beginning to rebuild their lives how they choose. III. Kurt Vonnegut expresses opposition to religion through his work. A. Vonnegut often uses religions that are cheapened to serve someone else's purpose at the expense of others 1. In The Sirens of Titan, hundreds of thousands of lives are sacrificed in the Earth/Mars war, just to establish a new religion. 2. In Cat's Cradle, Bokononism is established by the government of San Lorenzo to make the people forget about their poor quality of lives. B. Vonnegut's novels see ordinary people become deified and manipulated to become spokespeople for some greater human force. 1. In The Sirens of Titan, Malachi Constant becomes a faux Christ as the Space Wanderer. 2. In Player Piano, when Paul Proteus agrees to join the Ghost Shirt Society, he becomes a sort of messiah for them. C. The religions Vonnegut creates for his novels are often use...