In 1922, a very complex mind entered the world. Vonnegut, over time, has developed a very defined writing style. His writing works are similar in many ways. He has written everything from short magazine articles to expansive and complex novels. One characteristic, however, stays very consistent in his writing, and that is the fact that he includes his life experiences and philosophies in his writing. Vonnegut uses his stories to explain his life and innermost thoughts and ideas. "Slaughter House Five" is his greatest example of this. Vonnegut has had a very interesting life which makes for very interesting stories and concepts. .
Born on November 11, 1922, in Indianapolis, Vonnegut was born into a well-to-do family that was hit very hard by the Depression. Vonnegut went to public high school, unlike his two older siblings, and there gained early writing experience writing for the high school's daily paper. He enrolled at Cornell University in 1940, and, under pressure from his father and older brother, studied chemistry and biology. He had little real love for the subjects, and his performance was poor. He did, however, enjoy a position working for the Cornell Daily Sun. In 1942, Vonnegut left Cornell; at the time, the university was preparing to ask him to leave due to poor academic performance.
One very interesting story is his first novel, "Cat's Cradle". Vonnegut wrote this novel in 1963. The interesting thing about this novel is how much it resembles his own life. Vonnegut essentially took this novel and made it a self- portrayel of himself and his own childhood. In the book, The Hoenikker family closely parallels Vonnegut's own family, consisting of an elder son who is a scientist, a tall middle daughter, and a younger son who joins Delta Upsilon. The narrator is again a writer who, in this case, is working on a book called "The Day the World Ended", about the bombing of Hiroshima.
