Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1993. [Vol. 1.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 21)
STUDIES - Donald E. Morse: 'Why Not You?": Kurt Vonncgufs Debt to The Book of Job
In a few of his novels however, the power of reason and goodness does prove real and occasionally even wins out over evil. So Eliot Rosewater gives all he has away to frustrate the unscrupulous young lawyer, Norman Mushari, and Malachi Constant in Sirens of Titan at long last learns "to love whoever is around to be loved." As a character in one of Bertolt Brecht plays says: "In the worst of times, there are good people." In Slaughterhouse-Five there may well be a momentary triumph of goodness, but if so it is fleeting and fairly complex: Billy Pilgrim becomes the chief attraction in a zoo on the planet Tralfamadore in another galaxy where he and Montana Wildhack are put on exhibit as interesting specimens of an endangered species. Although their captors have long ago concluded, based upon thousands of years of observation, that the most prominent characteristic of human beings appears to be their ability to self-destruct, these two copulate and produce an off-spring while being held captive in the zoo. Their action illustrates humanity's drive to continue the race which counterbalances its drive to destroy it. 6 This modest hopefulness is a far cry from the total despair experienced in Cat's Cradle by Mona the incredibly beautiful woman of the Sunday supplements who, as the world ends, refuses to make love to JonahJohn because "thaf s how babies are made," and no sane person would want to have a child as the world ends. But Montana Wildhack and Billy Pilgrim, less worldly-wise and far more childlike, under much less favorable conditions in the Tralfamadorian zoo amidst their Sears Roebuck furnishings, reproduce to the delight and glee of their audience. Perhaps they represent humanity's ultimate function in the universe: to puzzle and delight extra-terrestial on-lookers with the paradox of beings who both reproduce —that is, give life —and destroy themselves —that is, take life —at one and the same time. Pointing to this human penchant for self-destruction through war and brutality becomes part of Vonnegut's role as a latter-day Jobian messenger who brings the news of the "commonness" of death. To account 6 Compare Deadeye Dick (New York: Dell Publishing, 1982) where the voice of God announces that the purpose of humanity is "to reproduce. Nothing else really interests Me. All the rest is frippery" (p. 185). 80
