BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS- KURT VONNEGUT In Brandon Boyd’s ‘Make Yourself’; he states that ‘ if [he] hadn’t assembled [himself] that [he] would ” ve fallen apart,’ ; implying that if one does not take the time to understand and build his or her own values and morals that one will live in confusion and falter. Throughout Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions, Kilgore Trout goes through the process of realizing who he is and then learns to remain true to himself. At first Trout is a pessimist who strives to be heard. Trout then begins to question human ways and while doing so finds a few answers about not only them but him as well. In the beginning Trout comes off as a pessimistic unknown writer.
One of his most popular works, Plague on Wheels was sold for twelve dollars for the pictures alone. Later people would pay only a dollar for it, but this time ‘for the words’; . Trout is in awe about the way that people work. In Plague on Wheel he expresses the ideas and ways of humans and then refers to them as ‘ cuckoo’; . He cannot understand why people do such ridiculous things such as, ‘[agree] with friends to express friendliness’; and everyone else follows.
He sees that people feel the need to conform for acceptance and this annoys him. In his story he also cites the time of which ‘Earthlings discovered tools’; , referring to guns. Trout points out that the ‘tools’; only purpose is ‘to make holes in human beings’; , this seeming extremely ridiculous to him. Realizing all of this bothers Trout immensely and puts him in a bitter state. Kilgore Trout proceeds in watching the actions of humans.
He realizes that he is no longer innocent, ‘ his head is no longer just sheltered ideas.’ ; Trout sees things for what they are and knows that he has deal with that. He must learn to form his own opinions and ideas. When Trout actually looks back and realizes how sheltered people are at the beginning of life it ‘scares the bejesus’; out of him. He realizes that when we are so protected that it leaves us extremely vulnerable. Trout begins to question certain human ideas, one being the ‘creator of the universe.’ ; Trout takes interest in trying to figure out who in fact is the creator.
He questions why the creator would give snakes ‘fangs filled with venom to kill’; , what kind of creator was this? Trout finally does run into one of his only fans who states that ‘ [he] is free’; from the restrictions of the world due to reading Trout’s work. He is extremely proud of this revelation. Due to this situation Trout begins to form answers to his many questions. Finally Trout does come to some conclusions for himself.
He believes that ‘man was probably a better universe in its infancy,’ ; this concluding that the more man realizes the more corruption man will cause, the gun being the prime example. Trout does not want to take part in that corruption. He wishes to remain ‘young’; and see things in there purity. Trout realizes that what he sees in the world affects him tremendously. ‘ The pessimist that overwhelmed him in later life’; will control him forever if he does not fight against it. He needs to ‘free’; himself from the restrictions of the world.
Trout is a pessimistic man going on with life the way it is, but when faced with questions about himself and why people do what they do, it forces him to take a minute, step back and take a look at the big picture. While doing so he does not only learn to form his own opinions and ideas but also realizes who he is and why he does what he does. So as it starts out being about humans it ends up being about Trout himself.