Kurt Vonnegut and City News Bureau

1. In what year was Vonnegut born? Vonnegut was born in 1922. 2. What two colleges did he attend? He attended Cornell University. The army sent him to the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) and the University of Tennessee to study mechanical engineering. 3. Although Vonnegut trained as a chemist, what did he work as? He worked as a teacher at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. 4. What was his job at the City News Bureau of Chicago? He was the corresponding judicial at the City News Bureau of Chicago. 5. Which of his books, based on his experiences as a prisoner of war during War World II in Germany, made him a millionaire? Slaughterhouse-Five, a post-modern anti-war science fiction novel dealing with a soldier's (Billy Pilgrim). Also experiences during World War II and his journeys with time travel. 6. In what genre did Vonnegut most often write? Vonnegut's experience as a soldier and prisoner of war had a profound influence on his work, as you can see in most of his books. Part 2: 1. How are George and Hazel Bergeron described? What sort of life do they lead? There's no physical description, it's just said that â€Å"Hazel has a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she can't think about anything except in short bursts†. And George is said to have an intelligence way above normal, but he has a little mental handicap radio in his ear. â€Å"He is required by law to wear it at all times. It's tuned to a government transmitter. Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter will send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains. † They live a simple average life, like everybody else in 2081! 2. What is the meaning of the last words of the Bergeron’s, â€Å"that one was a doozy†? Think Hazel is talking about the noise in the ears of her husband, meaning this one the sound was â€Å"extraordinaire†, incredible! The noise in George's ears is made so unbearable so that he won't be able to concentrate on his child's death, and when Hazel told him after that â₠¬Å"Gee – I could tell that one was a doozy,† he answers â€Å"You can say that again†. But she doesn't understand, so she thinks he wants her to repeat it again, so she does! 3. In real life, what ways do we try to make people equal? Does it work to make people equal, or just to make them alike? Why do you think we use these methods? Are they effective? By going to school for example, just so people can have equal chances in life. As for physical flaws and imperfections, there's always plastic surgery! But it's of no use! I my opinion, I think it just helps people feel better, just by believing that so they can be just like everybody else, what with all the women willing to look like their favorite actress†¦ It doesn't help at all, and in the contrary it can only make one people inferior to the person he want to copy! . Consider the characters of Hazel and George. Why isn't Hazel handicapped? It’s obvious that Hazel isn't handicapped because she is already born handicapped, so there's no need to handicap her in a artificial way just like her husband! And I think that if not for the handicap stuff he is obliged to wear, George would have married her in the first place! 5. To what extent do television, radio, and the mass media generally function like George's mental handicap radio? | I think that governments use all these stuffs to prevent us from really look under the surface of what they do! Everyday we're so drowned over so many TV shows, there's always something new to see on internet, something to download, and the radio is continually functioning, how can one really concentrate on what is important with these never-ending stuffs? How can one think properly? And you're said you must learn more, you must work harder to achieve your goals and live a good life, but meanwhile life is passing by, and you can't even profit of it while you're still young. One day you wake up, and you're old! And it's too late.