"As Paul dropped up once more, he murmured an automatic reply. 'And i love you Anita'" (Vonnegut 258).
The excessive mechanism of Paul Proteus's life wedges its way past his job and into his personal life and emotions. The above quote represents the part of Paul's brain that previously felt love that has been taken over by computer programming and mechanized repetition. The verb "murmured" can typically be equated with a lack of emotion, or gibberish. Instead of a word like "whispered" that implies speaking softly, but with integrity, Vonnegut chose the word "murmured" to portray a lack of emotion. Paul may not even realize that he said "I love you." It has become simply what he is supposed to say. Just as someone may murmur a useful piece of information to themselves while taking a test, Paul murmurs his feelings of affection (or lack of affection) for Anita.
This quote is also indicative of how Paul does not love Anita, but rather the idea of her. Anita is reminiscent of a typical 1950s housewife who can find happiness buried within her household, and catering to the every need of her husband. I think that it is Anita's lack of education that allows her to be content taking care of Paul and representing his status in society by attending functions and driving reputable vehicles. Her lack of education has built a wall that separated her from her true beliefs and sense of self. Anita becomes representative of Paul's confinement to the world of engineering. Their relationship that becomes strained is representative of Paul's escape from the world that he pretended to love for so long. Although the word "you" in the above quote is italicised, it should not be because Paul is not in the love with Anita but rather the idea of her. Anita becomes the object of Paul's life in mechanized conformity.
Paul's car- "The engine wasn't working properly [...] His other cars, a new station wagon and a very expensive Sedan were at home [...] for Anita. Nor was it logical that a man with so special a car would be put off an put off having the broken left headlamp fixed" (23-24).
Paul's car is a symbol of close-mindedness and conformity. "The engine wasn't working properly" symbolizes Paul's initial inability to fulling embrace the "non-engineers" that live on the other side of the river. His job, Anita, his money, and his intelligence hold him back from seeing a different, artistic kind of intelligence that lives outside of his world. Paul's first taste of the other side of the river is when a man fixes Paul's car using a rubber band and paper clips. The ability to spontaneously fix a car represents the opposite of intelligence regarding conformity, like engineering in this world. The fact that Paul's two other cars are expensive and primarily for Anita show that ironically, the engineers are not nearly as interested in the human mind as they are in conformity. Meanwhile, Paul uses his old, decrepit car, which foreshadows his eventual escape from the conformity of his world.
The broken headlamp represents obstructed vision. Anita and Paul can only understand life on one side of the river. Paul's lack of interest in fixing the headlamp shows his ability to force comfort on himself in his mechanized lifestyle. Paradoxically, it is the left headlamp that is out. Left-brained people tend to be the logical mathematical thinkers. The fact that it is Paul's left headlamp is out is used as foreshadowing of Paul's eventual part in the revolution and the Ghost Shirts, and it is representative of the lack of deep analytical thinking that is needed in Paul's workplace. Deep thinking leads to a machine, that makes the work of humans obsolete.
I enjoyed the character development in this novel, but not the theme development. I particularly enjoyed the development of Anita. I think that Vonnegut perfectly combined feelings of humor, frustration, and pity to form Anita's character. I found myself feeling sorry for her, but at the same time I found myself pitying her lifestyle and her inability to accept people of different economic backgrounds. Paul became rather frustrating at times, as I found him to be rather inconsistent. His inability to decide what he really wanted for a good portion of the novel left me hoping for him, but at the same time I was impatient waiting for him to finally break free of his life of engineering. However I enjoyed Paul's questioning of his own motives, suspecting that he may be going through a period of personal uncertainty rather than a real revaluation of his social and professional environment. I loved Haycox. His bluntness contrasting very well with the conformity and hidden emotions that characterize Paul and Anita and others that work at the Ilium Works.
As far as theme is concerned, I enjoyed the Utopian theme but found that the theme became monotonous rather quickly. I found myself waiting for the revolution that did not happen until the last two or three chapters. A found that descriptions of technological devices overshadowed some crucial themes.
The excessive mechanism of Paul Proteus's life wedges its way past his job and into his personal life and emotions. The above quote represents the part of Paul's brain that previously felt love that has been taken over by computer programming and mechanized repetition. The verb "murmured" can typically be equated with a lack of emotion, or gibberish. Instead of a word like "whispered" that implies speaking softly, but with integrity, Vonnegut chose the word "murmured" to portray a lack of emotion. Paul may not even realize that he said "I love you." It has become simply what he is supposed to say. Just as someone may murmur a useful piece of information to themselves while taking a test, Paul murmurs his feelings of affection (or lack of affection) for Anita.
This quote is also indicative of how Paul does not love Anita, but rather the idea of her. Anita is reminiscent of a typical 1950s housewife who can find happiness buried within her household, and catering to the every need of her husband. I think that it is Anita's lack of education that allows her to be content taking care of Paul and representing his status in society by attending functions and driving reputable vehicles. Her lack of education has built a wall that separated her from her true beliefs and sense of self. Anita becomes representative of Paul's confinement to the world of engineering. Their relationship that becomes strained is representative of Paul's escape from the world that he pretended to love for so long. Although the word "you" in the above quote is italicised, it should not be because Paul is not in the love with Anita but rather the idea of her. Anita becomes the object of Paul's life in mechanized conformity.
Paul's car- "The engine wasn't working properly [...] His other cars, a new station wagon and a very expensive Sedan were at home [...] for Anita. Nor was it logical that a man with so special a car would be put off an put off having the broken left headlamp fixed" (23-24).
Paul's car is a symbol of close-mindedness and conformity. "The engine wasn't working properly" symbolizes Paul's initial inability to fulling embrace the "non-engineers" that live on the other side of the river. His job, Anita, his money, and his intelligence hold him back from seeing a different, artistic kind of intelligence that lives outside of his world. Paul's first taste of the other side of the river is when a man fixes Paul's car using a rubber band and paper clips. The ability to spontaneously fix a car represents the opposite of intelligence regarding conformity, like engineering in this world. The fact that Paul's two other cars are expensive and primarily for Anita show that ironically, the engineers are not nearly as interested in the human mind as they are in conformity. Meanwhile, Paul uses his old, decrepit car, which foreshadows his eventual escape from the conformity of his world.
The broken headlamp represents obstructed vision. Anita and Paul can only understand life on one side of the river. Paul's lack of interest in fixing the headlamp shows his ability to force comfort on himself in his mechanized lifestyle. Paradoxically, it is the left headlamp that is out. Left-brained people tend to be the logical mathematical thinkers. The fact that it is Paul's left headlamp is out is used as foreshadowing of Paul's eventual part in the revolution and the Ghost Shirts, and it is representative of the lack of deep analytical thinking that is needed in Paul's workplace. Deep thinking leads to a machine, that makes the work of humans obsolete.
I enjoyed the character development in this novel, but not the theme development. I particularly enjoyed the development of Anita. I think that Vonnegut perfectly combined feelings of humor, frustration, and pity to form Anita's character. I found myself feeling sorry for her, but at the same time I found myself pitying her lifestyle and her inability to accept people of different economic backgrounds. Paul became rather frustrating at times, as I found him to be rather inconsistent. His inability to decide what he really wanted for a good portion of the novel left me hoping for him, but at the same time I was impatient waiting for him to finally break free of his life of engineering. However I enjoyed Paul's questioning of his own motives, suspecting that he may be going through a period of personal uncertainty rather than a real revaluation of his social and professional environment. I loved Haycox. His bluntness contrasting very well with the conformity and hidden emotions that characterize Paul and Anita and others that work at the Ilium Works.
As far as theme is concerned, I enjoyed the Utopian theme but found that the theme became monotonous rather quickly. I found myself waiting for the revolution that did not happen until the last two or three chapters. A found that descriptions of technological devices overshadowed some crucial themes.
6 comments:
I largely agree with your opinions on the novel and the way in which you characterized the Paul and others of importance. But I have to disagree on the statements you made about Anita. I believe Anita chose to be the woman she was, thus choosing to make herself miserable. You discuss how Paul did not mean "I love you", but the same can be said for everytime it is said by Anita. I understood her to be a shallow, selfish character, pushing Paul to do things that were good for him, but it was those things he did not want to do. The fact that she has the ability to cheat on Paul and leave him immediately after he loses his job shows her lack of both respect and passion for Paul, two necessary components to have a healthy relationship.
I definitely agree with your frustration with Paul. His inability to decide whether he was happy with his life or whether he should take the risk of losing Anita (who was nothing more than materialistic anyway) and break from conformity was agitating. I understood that it was a very difficult decision because he would completely be rearranging his lifestyle but I thought the process was dragged out a bit too long in the book. I also agree that Haycox was my favorite character because of his bluntness and complete difference from Paul and Anita who tend to just skirt around difficult issues.
Perhaps Anita is a mix of 1950's housewife and Lady Macbeth. This will make more sense later in the year. I just don't think she is submissive enough to considered a 1950's housewife.
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