American Literature

In Arthur Millers play Death of a Salesman, audiences view the final day of Willy Lomans life.  Willy is a failed salesman who is crushed by the economic realities of his failures to perform, and takes those concerns out on his wife and two children by lashing out at them.  On top of this, Lomannow 63 years oldis experiencing the blurring of his past life with his present one, providing him (as well as audiences) a heartbreaking look at a family whose lives were once full of potential.  Implicit in the titular death of Loman is Millers criticism of the American dreamLoman is unable to access higher-order emotional responses to the needs of his family because he sees himself as being unable to meet their physical needs through money.  Even when Loman or his sons do experience meager moments of success, Loman tortures himself by comparing them to the greater achievements of others his minors sales successes pale compared to his brother discovering diamonds in Africa, for instance.  And even as his older sons plot a business venture that may well be more successful than any of his, Loman is still scolding them for the perceived failures of the past.  In this sense, Miller shows Loman to be an archetypal beingan everyman figure whose failed life and successful suicide could be the fate of anyone.

Certainly, modern economic woes seem to bear out Millers concerns as being accurate.  Individuals are reliant upon various forms of propertythe much maligned appliances in Death of a Salesman are a good example of that.  They do not represent vanity purchases, but represent certain utilities that enable the Loman family to a live a solidly lower-middle class lifestyle.  In a post- Great Depression world, the American dream is tied into property and financial success the so-called white picket fences demarcating ones own piece of this shared dream.  As Loman is told in the play, them things dont mean anything. You named him Howard, but you cant sell that. The only thing you got in this world is what you can sell. And the funny thing is that youre a salesman, and you dont know that (Miller 75).  However, Miller shows that this lifestyle is ultimately toxic property is perceived as a necessary precursor to happiness, and money is a necessary precursor to property.  As the appliance bills and mortgage payments pile up, more money is necessary, causing an endless cycle of misery.  It is no coincidence that Loman is chasing the ghost of the previously successful salesman (Dave Singleman) who inspired Loman into his career choiceas Danqing points out, when he is young, he finds his own hero and tries to become the hero in this own existence (Danqing 29).  Danqing notes that all of Lomans happy memories are dated before the Great Depression, which had an adverse and, in Millers eye, irreversible effect on the nature of the American dream As the Great Depression deepened, the American Dream had become a nightmare. What was once the land of opportunity was now the land of desperation. What was once the land of hope and optimism had become the land of despair. The American people were questioning all the maxims on which they had based their lives - democracy, capitalism, individualism (Danqing 26-27).  Just as Loman is chasing the ghost of a man who is gone and a man that can never truly be recreated, Miller is illustrating the American dream as something that died during the Great Depressionwhile younger characters have moved on and embraced technology and change, Loman is still chasing that ghost.  As Miller tells us, weve been talking in a dream for fifteen years (Miller 81).  The brutal irony is that the closest he comes to embracing the American dream is by taking his own life he buys the freedom for his family (from their debt, and perhaps even from himself) with his death that he never could in life, joining the American dream where Miller has squarely situated it the graveyard.

Millers explication of the American dreams corrupting influence on culture can be seen through Lomans home, as well.  As Thompson points out, the symbolic importance of the main setting in Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman, explaining how the small home of Willy and Linda Lomanonce situated on the green fringes of suburbia and blessed with shade trees, a backyard garden, and plenty of open space for two rambunctious sonshas become palisaded by ruthless urban sprawl, so much so that the aging couple now live in the sterilizing shadows of high-rise apartment buildings, trapped, cornered, enveloped (Thompson 244)
Thompson paints an engaging (if depressing) picture of the Loman household as being under siege by the forces of progress.  The apartments bullying his suburban lifestyle are as puzzling to Loman as the wire receiver in his young bosss office, because they represent the forces of modernity.  In short, they represent what America had to become in order to stave off The Great Depression.  Loman, of course, refused to ever change, and is situated in the pasta metaphorical fact made abundantly clear by the ghosts of his past visiting him with the same clarity that the haunting spirits visit Scrooge in A Christmas Carol.  Of course, the tragedy of Death of a Salesman is that it is far too late for Loman to change his life.  He can never truly envision his future because he can never stop envisioning his past.  He experiences this as a moment of clarity at the end of the play Why am I trying to become what I dont want to be What am I doing in an office, making a contemptuous, begging fool of myself, when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am (Miller 105).  The tragedy is that with a vision stuck in the past, Loman can never truly know who he is, and his family is perpetually waiting for his moment of actualization.

Millers cautionary tale of Lomans life is as apt today as it was then, if not more so.  The story of chasing the wrong dreams into financial and familial ruin strikes an all-too-familiar chord for individuals whose economy renders even one pratfall as potentially fatal, both to individuals and to the families that rely on them.  Unfortunately, history has illustrated Millers jaded views on the American dream as absolutely correct.

While the abstractions of that dream (such as the boundlessness of opportunity, and the ability to raise ones self from meager poverty to the status of a business tycoon) remain firmly in place as a guiding principle to the masses, the realities of it (the money and education necessary to actualize the vast majority of opportunities and dreams, for instance) remain as heartbreaking to modern individuals as it was to Willy Loman.  It is always possible to restructure that dream into something more accommodating, but considering the jingoism that is inevitably tied into the American dream (one cannot ignore the specifically national character of that dream, after all), such a move is often seen as settling for something lesser than could be done.  Again, Lomans actions and fate haunt modernity in a way that seems a cruel parody of Shakespeares Macbeth.  In that work, Macbeth was undone by the prophecy of his own greatness.  In modern American culture, every child is given their own prophecy of greatness, from the lowest school teacher to the highest office in the land.  Yet individuals still seem mortified when they see the greasy impact of lives flung from their would-be heights onto the unyielding concrete of brutal economic reality.

The Roles of Women in Eudora Weltys  The Petrified Man

Written mainly in the form of dialogue, Eudora Weltys  The Petrified Man,  is  the gossip of two women, Leota and Mrs. Fletcher, during the early 1940s. Concentrated on the fragility and, at times, underlying pettiness of the casual relationships between the women of Leota and Mrs. Fletchers small world, the story illustrates the closed off world of women and the beginning changes to their roles in society. In the rise and fall of Leotas friendship with Mrs. Pike, as well as Mrs. Fletchers secret pregnancy, Welty shows the limitations of a womans role in society. At the same time, the portrayal of Fred and Mr. Pike as unemployed while their wives work to take care of the family, shows how roles were starting to be reversed in the relationship between men an women. In the contradiction between traditional and new roles for women, Welty attempts to find and illustrate the truth of her characters. Though set in the South, Welty does not limit her characters by regionalism but contributes to a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by women in straddling the line between the past and the future.

One of he most important components of Weltys story is the use of dialogue to make up the majority of the story. From the plot to the personalities of the individual characters, even those who are not actual participants in the conversation, she uses dialogue to not merely motivate the story but to create a story in the first place. The characters of Leota and Mrs. Fletcher are developed from the beginning with Leotas easy, ungrammatical offset by Mrs. Fletchers more prim and proper outlook on life. The non-dialogue is used as a compliment to the dialogue by helping to highlight Mrs. Fletchers high strung character as the opposite of Leotas laid back attitude. Wanting to know who has revealed her pregnancy to Leota, Mrs. Fletcher turns to the other beautician for answers. Leotas own assistance in getting Thelmas attention is a sharp contrast to Mrs. Fletcher and reveals the key difference of personality between the two women,
 Wheres Thelma Ill get it out of her,  said Mrs. Fletcher.

Just wait,  said Mrs. Fletcher, and shrieked for Thelma, who came in and took a drag from Leotas cigarette.
 Thelma, honey, throw your mind back to yestiddy if you kin,  said Leota    just cast your mind back and try to remember who your lady was yestiddy who happm to mention that my customer was pregnant, thats all. Shes dead to know  (2149).

More relaxed, and knowing her own guilt in misleading Mrs. Fletcher by not telling her right away that it had been Mrs. Pike, Leota radiates a calmer, homier exterior than Mrs. Fletcher. The archetype of a busy body hairdresser, Leota is an individual in her charm and ease with conversation. Mrs. Fletcher, more restrained by her seriousness and airs and is snobbish in comparison. In the understanding of the women that flows from their conversations, we begin to see that their personalities arent the only way they differ. They also are very different socially and in their marital status..

Marital status is very important in showing the differences between the women, not just if they are married but what their marriage is like. Welty shows part of this difference in her choice of the name that the characters are known by in the story. Mrs. Fletcher and Mrs. Pike are not only individual women but they are wives. They are representative of the traditional coupling and roles between men and women. Mrs. Fletcher always refers to her husband as Mr. Fletcher, just as Leota is sure to make the distinction of Mrs. Pikes married state by never referring to her by her first name. However, just as unmarried and married women vary in the eyes of society, so too do the individual experiences of marriage. Having met her husband at a library, Mrs. Fletcher implies a lack of romance in her marriage. In describing their meeting, Mrs. Fletcher unconsciously shows the traditional male-dominant idea of malefemale relationships,  I met Mr. Fletcher, or rather he met me, in a rental library,  said Mrs. Fletcher with dignity  (1153).  It would not do, in Mrs. Fletchers view of the world, for a woman to be looking for a man and in making the point that it was Mr. Fletcher who met her, Mrs. Fletcher is placing herself in a submissive contrast to her husband.

By contrast, Mrs. Pikes husband is much older than his wife and Mrs. Pikes motivations, whether romance or security, are never truly revealed. Instead, Mrs. Fletcher and the reader learn only about Mrs. Pikes relationship through the first adoring than critical eyes of Leota. As opposed to Mrs. Fletcher, Mrs. Pike represents a kind of romantic view of marriage for Leota. In her eventual fortune, she fulfills what Leota desires but does not have. Its no mistake that we never learn Leotas last name. In part, at least in respect to Leota and Mrs. Fletcher, it is due to their relationship as customer and hairdresser as well as different social statuses. While their conversation may touch on the most personal of subjects, they lack an intimacy. More importantly, the difference in names reveals the differences between their relationships with the men in their lives. Though it is never stated outright, we can guess from the use of Leota and Freds first names only that they are not yet married,  Honey, me an Fred, we met in a rumble seat eight months ago and we was practically on what you might call the way to the altar inside of half an hour, said Leota in a guttural voice  (2153). Leotas impetuous nature and the whirlwind of her romance with Fred are a quick contrast to Mrs. Fletchers more traditional and boring relationship. There is the sense that Mrs. Fletcher doesnt even really like her husband. The balance of their traditional roles, as man and woman in 1940s society, is similarly different. Mrs. Fletcher is shown as nothing more than a bored housewife, while Leota is a businesswoman. She is not merely doing hair in her home but has a shop with employees. Fred on the other hand is a layabout who does not work but still Leota has some hope for what being his wife could mean for her future. Leota enjoys her job but she wants the security of a marriage, not a business. Leotas womens beauty parlor, a feminine space, doesnt only show the limitations for women in the business world but Leotas limited idea of her future.

For the women in the story, regardless of their freedom of conversation or personality, there are still the norms of society to be coped with. Leotas sense of a kindred nature in Mrs. Pike, is what draws her and then repells her from their quick friendship. In addition, the underlying competition between the two women that ends with Mrs. Pikes good fortune at winning the 500 reward, shows how limited their choices were in a society that looked at the careers of women. Even though Leota has a business and is, at least professionally superior to her friend, the concept of the working woman was one of necessity rather than leisure. Even as Leotas represents independence in her role as breadwinner in her relationship, her ideas of fortune are still based on the expectations of society. While she may work, she does not desire it to be her fate. In winning the reward, Mrs. Pike achieves the final mark in her accomplishments as a woman. She is wife, a mother, and now financially bolstered whereas Leota struggles to pass from stage to stage.

Mrs. Fletcher too is struggling with the expectations of her role as a woman. She is trying to hide her pregnancy from not merely the town but her husband, while attempting to be the traditional wife does not feel in herself the desire to be a mother,  Well I dont like children that much, said Mrs. Fletcher.   Well Im almost tempted not to have this one  (2150). For a woman who attempts to conform to societys expectations of women, Mrs. Fletchers confession reveals that even the most traditional of female roles is not what it seems. Despite the expectations of her husband and even Leota, who herself replies with a  Well  (2150) to Mrs. Fletchers dislike of children, Mrs. Fletcher does not wish to fill the role of motherhood. However, despite her protestations that  Mr. Fletcher cant do a thing with me  (2150) she nevertheless does little to change her fate,  if I really look that pregnant already  (2150). She is resigned to and trapped in the cycle of her own conception of the female role, knowing that she herself fails to fulfill the most important of archetypes but sees no way to fight against it. Therefore she ends up merely falling into the stereotype of the weaker sex in her manipulations of her husband,  If he so much as raises his voice against me, he knows good and well Ill have one of my sick headaches, and then Im just not fit to live with  (2150). She does not fight her husband with reason or logic, with her own desires, but instead uses his idea of her femaleness against him and keeps herself trapped.

In the end, there is no real escape for the women in the the story. Welty, does not attempt to look to the future of the past but concentrates her characters in their present. Despite their differences, they each exist within the expectations and limitations of their roles as women in 1940s society. While Leota operates a business, she yearns for the life of Mrs. Pike and in her jealousy, their friendship is undermined by the pettiness of competition. Mrs. Fletcher battles within herself, to maintain the image of proper wife and woman while suppressing her personal feelings on motherhood and marriage. They are each going through the motions of their life, caught between not only the images of the past and the possibilities of the future but more importantly the opposition between their inner and outer selves as women.

It was Toni Morrison who wrote the book about the black community in Ohio called Bottom and the friendship of Sula and Nel which was born and was ended in the said place. Most of Morrisons works concentrate on the complexities black people experience while living in America. Sula, the name of the book, was set during early 1900s but was written by the author in 1969. During this time, there are many activists whom are fighting for equality in opportunities and rights. The story involved African Americans depression on having a decent job, their endeavor in preserving their traditional beliefs in a foreign land and the stories of their life on how they survive prejudice from white men.

Having two main characters in the story may make the reader think why the book was named only after one of the two characters. While the story was set on a typical African American life where characters are conservative and ordinary, the book Sula, however, was centered on the character of a woman who at an early age, fought back against suppression and became different. It can therefore be argued that Toni Morrison has chosen Sula as the name of the novel because of the characters unique role in the novel. She offers traits that the other characters do not have and presents questions that only the very liberal can dare sympathize with.

Sula and Nel are childhood friends who came from contrasting personality of families. Nel is from a family who lives a conventional life in a stable house while Sula is living with her mother and grandmother named Hannah and Eva respectively, and three adopted borders in a house which her mother built of out money from insurance company after a rumored self-inflicted amputation of her legs. Despite the polarity of their upbringing, Sula and Nel are inseparable as friends due to the difference in their lives. While Sula follows the independence of her mother and is in search for more adventure to happen, Nel is in desire of Sulas life as a result of being a traditional good woman. They are so attached to each other and to the friendship they have built that it can be described as we were two throats and one eye and we had no price (Morrison, 147).
Once, Sula and Nel were playing with Chicken Little. While Sula swings Chicken Little, she loses her grip on him causing his fall on the river, drowned him and eventually rooted resulted to his death. Even though what happened was not their intention, the two were so frightened and promised not to tell it to anyone.

For Nel, the day the accident happened was the day that they would never come back to yet for Sula, the day was almost like just a beginning of a new life for her. According to Maureen Reddy, this marked the day when Sula realized that there was no other that you could count on and that there was no self to count on either (Morrison, 118-119). The feeling was strengthened by another event when she heard her mother say I love Sula. I just dont like her (Morrison, 57). Since then, she longed for change, since she does not want to live as the women of Bottom do, in thrall to male needs, male desires, male rules. (Reddy, 36). It was the day she realized she wanted to be different and lead an experimental life.

Sula started to exhibit a daring attitude. She asked Nel to come with her in confronting the bullies who always stop them in using the road which is a shortcut going home. When they reached the place, the bullies tried to stop them but Sula threatened them by using a knife in slashing off a part of her finger and said If I can do that to myself, what you suppose Ill do to you (Morrison, 55). The bullies since then did not disturb them.

When Nel married Jude after high school and remained conservative, Sula was heartbroken because she felt betrayed by her friend by leaving her. She left Bottom and Sulas experimental streak continued. She abandoned the conventional custom of marrying and settling down with a husband. Instead she engages in sexual fling without seeking any kind of meaningful commitment in her life. It can be said that she is involved in sexual experimentation, as the purpose of the associations that she initiates with men clearly appear to be sexual.

She spends a decade out of Bottom educating herself. While she was away, she was enchanted by the prospect of dating white men, she being an educated African American woman. Apparently her experimentation with the white men does not appeal to her eventually as she notices that there are other girls who have as well chosen the same kind of lifestyle. She finds the lifestyle boring so later contemplates going back to Bottom.

Back in Bottom Sula finds Nel still married to Jude and it is not long before she offers the readers another controversial gig she sleeps with her best friends husband. Moreover, she sends her grandmother Eva to a nursing home, something African Americans is perfectly against of since they believe that elderly should be taken care of. Hannah looking after Eva is a good example of women who live lives according to the norms bestowed upon them by the societal customs and this just made Sula be perceived as more evil by the
community.

According to Reddy, Sulas real crime is her complete disregard of her womanly responsibilities, as defined by her community (Reddy, 39) Morrison used the contrasting fate of Nel and Sula to emphasize the experimental life Sula is having. There was a stark contrast in the life Sula lived and the one her best friend Nel had. Nel was very conventional and does not resort to rushed decisions in the manner that her friend does. The author used Nel as the perfect character to personify a typical conventional African American woman who toes the community line. Every decision she made in her life was in line with the accepted values her community expects from her. She does not go away across the country to pursue her desires in the manner Sula did. She stays in Bottom, gets married to Jude and becomes a good wife to him. Whereas Sula is considered the villain of the story, Nel is the readers darling always doing what a good woman will do. She settled down to have children, a good indication of her maternal instincts. She does not experiment with the unknown but becomes herself a victim of Sulas sexual experimentation when Sula goes behind her back to have sex with her husband.

Maggie Galehouse pointed out that Sulas life is like one womans rejection of every available social script.  (Galehouse, 339). This statement of Galehouse can sum up the definition of the experimental life Sula had. Against the odds, Sula lived an unconventional life. She did what she wanted to do with her life even if it would mean she would break traditions or relationships. The community disliked her and everybody wanted her out of their sight. It was her actions which drove the storyline and kept the story alive. The consequences of her actions left ripple effects that affected other characters in the story. She was regarded by other characters in Bottom as the personification of evil. Her demise brings to a close a controversial life full of sympathy, pity and mortification.

In Morrisons article called Unspeakable Things Unspoken The Afro-American Presence in American Literatureshe pointed out that Sulas blackness is not just physical or is not just the melanin in her skin it is something internal, individual and elemental, manifested in disagreement to the ongoing social traditions and a development of the experimental and the untried. In short, Sula lived a black life as well with her experimentations. Just like in her other novel the Beloved, Toni Morrison shows how a single womans dismissal of all existing societal code of conduct produces significant community tension. This was said because Sula became the talk of the town. Many thought that her becoming evil should end thru her death so that good omens will come in and bring the community positive effects.

I always thought of Sula as quintessentially black, metaphysically black, if you will, which is not melanin and certainly not unquestioning fidelity to the tribe.  She is new world black and new world woman extracting choice from choicelessness, responding inventively to found things.  Improvisational.  Daring, disruptive, imaginative, modern, out-of-the-house, outlawed, unpolicing, uncontained and uncontainable.  And dangerously female.  In her final conversation with Nel she refers to herself as a special kind of black person woman, one with choices. (Morrison, 25).

On the other hand, using the point of view of Sula, Reddy analyzes and concludes that Sula dies, I would argue, because death seems her only option for freedom. Looking back at the younger years of Sula, it can be assumed that all her actions are just a result of the environment she had. Her mother was uninterested in her, her grandmother blames her for the death of her mother, Little Chicken died after she lost grip on him while playing, and all other unfortunate events that made her realize that she want to deviate her life from what is customarily women of her age are having. It was Sulas escape and when she was old and sick and realized that she had a meaningless life, death was also her escape.

Several literary works have been published that discusses and analyzes the writing style of Vonnegut. This interest shown by literary scholars is proof that Vonnegut is one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. Another thing that sets Vonnegut apart from his contemporaries is the way his works have made an impact on the field of literary discourse, more than any other postmodernist writer. In this section, I will organize the literatures published about Vonneguts works, particularly about his major novels. The texts mostly centers on three themes, namely, Postmodernist Vonnegut, his use of metafiction, and his philosophy as reflected in his works. Metafictive devices, such as the self-conscious approach and the inclusion of the author in the novel as a character, were used in his major novels as tools in order to communicate with his readers.

Postmodernist Vonnegut
Before I venture further in discussing the postmodernist features found in Vonneguts works, I would like to first shed some light on the notion of postmodernism. The concept of postmodernism has been critiqued by some literary scholars saying that it has no definition and its existence only relies on the basis of challenging or surpassing the modernist model.

From an epistemological perspective, modernists believe in the existence of the concrete truth, but believed that the ways which end up to that are not divergent, but rather, in a variety of ways. Postmodernists, on the other hand, are more closely affiliated with poststructuralists and deconstructionists, in that they believe that there is no absolute truth and the universe has no center and consequently coherence and meaning does not exist, neither in the world, nor in a text (Meghdadi and Payam 27).

In his essay, Hassan (91) explains this further by presenting a table that shows the schematic differences between modernism and postmodernism. Several elements of the two literary movements are compared in order to highlight their differences. From a modernist view, some of the elements that can be seen in this literary movement include romanticismsymbolism, form (conjunctive, closed), purpose, design, hierarchy, distance and metaphor, among others. The postmodernist view challenges that by focusing on elements that counteract the modernist ones mentioned above. This would include pataphysicsDadaism, antiform (disjunctive, open), play, chance, anarchy, participation and metonymy.

In his academic essay, Tally (165) states that Vonneguts work features several elements that are associated with postmodern fiction, such as metafictional techniques, use of collage or pastiche, and many others. Also, his works give off a sense of postmodernism or a fellow-feeling for its place and time.

According to Allen (5), two messages recur through all the writings of Vonnegut the first is Be Kind the second is God doesnt care whether you are or not. This kind of thinking, and his insistence that writing is an act of good citizenship or an attempt, at any rate, to be a good citizen (cited in Davis 7), that has led many critics to dismiss his work. Davis (6) defends the works of Vonnegut by stating that unlike the assertion of so many modernist critics that art is autonomous (art for arts sake), Vonnegut is concerned not only with the form his writing takes--one that reflects postmodern conviction about the nature of reality and our ability to express that reality in language--but also with the positive work his artistry may engender.

The postmodernist qualities that can be found in Slaughterhouse-Five include the mixing of fantasy and nonfiction, which is shown through the use of time travel and the Dresden bombing. Another of its postmodernist quality is having a clear-cut moral position as it highlights the devastation of war. By highlighting the devastation of war, the novel illustrates its postmodernist quality by having a definite moral stand on things.

According to Marvin (10), by publishing the anti-war novel during the height of the Vietnam War, Vonnegut demonstrates how he views war and the aerial bombardment efforts of the U.S. as nothing but a purposeless slaughter of innocents with no military justification. According to Foerstel (241), the novel  has a foundation in history and fact, but it is not a typical realistic novel. It mixes reality and science fiction, tragedy and slapstick .

Another Vonnegut novel that fits the postmodernist category is Cats Cradle (Vonnegut, 1963).  In this novel, the main protagonist is John, a.k.a. Jonah, a writer, who is planning to write about the late Felix Hoenikker, a physicist and one of the creators of the atomic bomb.

Allen (x) states that, in Cats Cradle, satire, which is a postmodernist quality, can be found in the novel. The satirization of religious fundamentalists, who are rendered obsolete in the age of science, and scientists is seen in the novel.

Reed (1972) also observed that the novels main character, Jonah, can be compared to the biblical Jonah who gets swallowed by a whale. The whale can then be compared to the Bokonism religion that Jonah gets involved with in the novel, as he was sucked in to its practices and beliefs.

In Breakfast of Champions, Alsen (110) describes it as a novel that is essentially a work of romantic postmodernism, despite its disjunctive and manipulated structure. According to Waugh (8), the strategy presented in the novel is the invertibility of the science-fiction convention whereby humans are depicted attempting to comprehend the processes of an alien world. She relates how, in the novel, contemporary American society is the alien world as Vonnegut defamiliarizes the world that his readers take for granted, through the technique of employing an ex- Earthling narrator who is now living on a different planet and has set out to explain Earth to his fellow inhabitants (Waugh 8).

Alsen (113) states that Breakfast of Champions is different from other Vonnegut novels as it contain more humor, a more upbeat tone, and a more positive view of human nature. Some critics and readers picked apart the novel due to its deviation from its predecessors, proclaiming that Vonnegut is incapable of producing a novel with the same caliber as Slaughterhouse-Five and that the quality of the rest of his works continues to decline. Morse (60) argues that this is not the case with Breakfast of Champions stating that after dealing with such large, imponderable issues as the presence of evil in the world and unmotivated human suffering, Vonnegut turns to playing in a serious way with the nature of narrative and with his role as a writer which results in the wonderful exuberance of Breakfast of Champions.

Allen (xii) presented another side to considering the novel remarking that Vonneguts work has always been marked with his desire to break down the barrier between fact and fiction, which can be seen in the first and last chapters of Slaughterhouse-Five, but in Breakfast of Champions he seemed determined to show his characters were automatons before they ever came alive.

Marvin (10) states that there were plenty of clues that Vonnegut has provided with regard to the connection between his life and work. One clue is by weaving autobiographical details into his fiction and discussing the process of writing novels in the novels themselves. These novels are prime examples of what he means.

Use of Metafiction in His Novels
Metafiction, which is a feature of postmodern writing, has been an object of interest among the literary field. The term metafiction was first conceived in 1970 by American literary critic William H. Gass in his essay Philosophy and the Form of Fiction describing it as fiction somehow about fiction itself (Knuth 1). Patricia Waugh (2) gives a more precise definition of metafiction as a term given to fictional writing which self-consciously and systematically draws attention to its status as an artefact in order to pose questions about the relationship between fiction and reality. However, Waugh (5) states that, although the term is relatively new, the practice itself is as old as the novel itself and is what gives the novel its identity.

The concept of metafiction as a self-conscious fiction can also be associated with terms such as self-awareness, self-reflection, self-knowledge and ironic self-distance (Currie 1). Waugh (6) describes metafictional novels as having the tendency to be constructed on the principle of a fundamental and sustained opposition, which is, the construction of a fictional illusion and the lying bare of that illusion. She adds that, in metafiction, what is commonly seen is the creation of fiction and at the same time, the making of a statement about the process of fiction creation.

A work can be defined as metafictional when the concept of artificiality becomes obvious to the reader. Accordingly, a metafictional work knowingly lays bare the conventions of fiction and draws attention to the language and literary style it uses (Meghadi  Payam 28). In support of this, Ward (31) characterizes how metafiction writers work within the tradition of novel as an art form, but do so with a critical, ironic awareness of that tradition.

Vachon (3-4) attempts to describe, in basic terms, the concept of metafiction. In her academic essay, she states that metafiction attempts to give us a sense of reading about ourselves in the act of reading. She further describes metafiction as

A constant movement in reciprocitya continuous reversal of reading and being readin order to catch reading itself. This is the nexus around which the reader and the text rotate, so that reading is always a splitting in the same moment that it is a unifying (4).

Another interesting topic that has been brought up in Vachons (21) essay  is the comparison between metafiction and autobiography. This is in relation to the authors use of himself or herself as a fictional character in their works. According to Vachon (21), the author is rendered anonymous in metafiction, while in autobiography, the author is exposed. This means that the concept of metafiction is unbounded as it allows the title of metafiction to open up to the text to infinite possibilities through the use of the depersonalization approach. Meanwhile, authority is claimed and the text is closed in autobiography.

Accordingly, metafiction can be located on the dividing line between fiction and literary criticism, exploring the relationship between these two worlds. Thus, the mimetic illusion literature creates is often undermined or even destroyed. From the point of convergence comes a self-conscious vigour that influences both criticism and fiction (Currie 2) .

Another question that needs to be pondered is why it is common to use metafiction in science fiction novels. Most metafiction writers, including Vonnegut, uses the science fiction genre for their novels because it is an effective medium in addressing the concern of metafiction writing which is to lay bare the works artificiality. According to McHale (60), by using the science fiction genre, authors can stage close encounters between different worlds, and as the confrontation theme occur between the said worlds, the disparities can be seen in them as each worlds structures are placed in the foreground.

By looking at the distinction between modern and postmodernism, which was mentioned earlier, postmodern fiction faces a dilemma with regard to dealing with realities as it contradicts the postmodernistic tenet of fictionality. Metafiction is the answer to this dilemma as it addresses the issue between fiction and realism as metafiction tries not to hold a mirror up to human nature or reality but instead puts up a mirror to the art of novel writing itself.

With regard to the use of the metafiction strategy in Vonneguts novels, this can be explained by Martins (28) view that The death of the (realistic) novel, which attracted so much critical attention in America and France during the 1950s, coincided with the rebirth of narrative. The new novel in France (Alain Robbe-Grillet, Nathalie Sarraute), what has been called fabulation and metafiction in American novel since the 1960s (John Barth, William Gass...), and South American writers such as Jorge Borges, Julio Cortzar, and Gabriel Garca Mrquez simply cannot be discussed adequately if one uses the critical apparatus associated with realism.

This view applies to Vonneguts strategy as Marvin (14) remarks that, in his writings, Vonnegut imagines other worlds because they allow him to point out what is wrong with contemporary society.

The selected novels of Vonnegut correspond to Waughs (2) claim that one of the major elements in all metafictional novels is that, they all explore a theory of fiction through the practice of writing a fiction.

In the novels of Vonnegut, two metafictive implications can be observed (Meghdadi and Payam 33)
1. Questioning the relationship between fiction and reality
2. The role of author in the text that he has written

According to Meghdadi and Payam, Vonneguts critique of the contemporary American culture could not have its present effect, if his novels had been other than metafictional. Moreover, this allows Vonnegut to distance himself from his contemporary culture and have a better overview of the disadvantages of being an American.

The second implication associated with metafictional novels is addressed by Waugh (6) as she suggests that the author in a metafictional novel loses his privileged position and almost becomes powerless in the realist tradition, especially in the case of nineteenth-century realism, where the authorial power is generally derived from a firm belief in a commonly experienced, objectively existing world of history. Waugh followed this by remarking that the forms of fiction, and the conflict of languages and voices, are resolved through their subordination to  the dominant voice of the omniscient, god-like author.

According to Waugh (7), the god-like power of the author over the text refers to the well-made plot, chronological sequence, the rational connection between what characters do and what they are, the causal connection between surface details and the deep, scientific laws of existence.

However, Meghdadi and Payam (37) observes that the postmodernist author loses his god-like authority over the text, as in most of the novels, the author enters his own text in order to show his authority to his characters in a direct way. The author ends up losing all his authorial power as soon as he crosses the boundary of the real world into the fictional world by becoming a fictional character too.

This can be seen in Vonneguts two novels, Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions. In Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut is the omniscient narrator of the text and also a fictional writer figure in the text. Thus, the god-like position of the author in the text is challenged. In Breakfast of Champions, Vonnegut as the author of the book actually turns himself into one of the main characters in his novel.

Waugh (1984) named the three selected novels as typical examples of metafiction, in that, they employ intertextual references and allusions, violate traditional rules of narration, and use unconventional and experimental techniques. In Slaughterhouse-Five, by recalling the destruction of Dresden in World War II, it also connects history and fiction, a subject of historiographic metafiction. Metafictional writing, in the case of Vonnegut, gives him the opportunity to find a solution to the ontological dilemma of reality. Moreover, it allows him to communicate to his readers the examination of the relationship between social reality and fictional form by exposing the mirror of art to its own linguistic structures.

Vonneguts Philosophy as Seen Through His Works
Vonneguts major novels also provide readers with an idea of the philosophical struggles and beliefs that Vonnegut has followed his entire life. In his book Kurt Vonneguts Crusade, Davis (2) reflects on his encounter with Vonnegut when he and his wife listened to a speech delivered by the author. Davis describes that considering that many critics have labeled Vonnegut an indifferent philosopher of existentialism or a playful nihilist of comic futility, it was quite obvious that the Kurt Vonnegut who spoke compassionately and directly about such issues as violence and war, love and respect, was exactly the Kurt Vonnegut that the audience had come to see.

Schroeder (n.d.) posits that Vonneguts true philosophy can be seen in his works as he provides a dramatic and deliberate distinction between people and characters. This can be particularly observed in Slaughterhouse Five (1-2).

To get a deeper understanding of Vonneguts philosophy, one must understand how he views people. Schroeder (2) states the Vonnegut sees people as barely human automatons who never gave thought or consider their actions as they go through the motions of life. They are mere lifeless playthings, acting like slaves and showing no hint of resistance against the forces that control their lives, and if they do realize that they are being controlled, they do nothing about it, preferring to submit themselves to their collective fate.

However, he believes in free-will, but it has been blocked by those enormous forces, or what he perceives as the institutions of war and religion (2). Schroeder (13) describes him as not a fatalist he does not resign himself to the belief that all events are predetermined and therefore unalterable. On the other hand, he is a pessimist. He never promises a happy ending, and the world he depicts is so dominated by the enormous forces of society that the gloom clearly seems to overshadow the light (13).

His humanist views and desire to enact change can be seen in his novels. Vonnegut once mentioned that he deliberately keeps his books short because he wants to be read by men in power and he knows politicians have neither the time nor the inclination to read thick books (Allen 5). He is quoted as saying

Ive worried some about why write books when Presidents and Senators and generals do not read them and the university experience taught me a very good reason you catch people before they become generals and Senators and Presidents, and you poison their minds with humanity. Encourage them to make a better world.

Davis (7) states that Vonneguts efforts to connect with his audience as an act of good citizenship are rooted in the bigquestions. He provides a connection which he hopes will ultimately lead to the construction of better realities for humanity. Davis remarks that

His work is philosophical in nature his stories often take the form of parables he struggles along with the reader, not in a position of author as omniscient creator but as one who is also wrestling honestly with the big question at hand (7).

Vonnegut possesses a strong social awareness which is reflected in his novels. This allows him to urge others not to see their work in terms of mere word play or philosophical theorizing. He also calls for each of us to examine our lives and to live in such a way that we minimize the harm we do to the earth or its inhabitants (Davis 7).

This social awareness can especially be seen in his novels, Slaughterhouse-Five and Cats Cradle.  The release of Slaughterhouse-Five is timed at the height of the Vietnam War, and in it, he alludes to the harsh realities of war and its futility. According to Simpson (261), the novel shows the nature of humanity, specifically, the murderousness of man. Vonnegut, in an explicit manner, attempts to show what war and bad ideas can do to humanity.  Cats Cradle, meanwhile, depicts the destructive acts of the human race and its consequences to Earth and its inhabitants.

Davis (12) gives a clearer perspective on the philosophy of Vonnegut.
It is true that Vonnegut often depicts the plight of humanity in brutally honest terms He is unwilling to wear rose-colored glasses in order to pander to those who wish only to hear euphemistic sound bites about our future. As he sees it, the uncontained growth of population, the destructive and costly wars that enliven an economic machine that uses human flesh for fuel, our blithe response to the devastation of the environment, and our continued mistreatment of one another, does not bode well for the future. Vonnegut, however, does not see himself as fatalistic or pessimistic.

Current Situation
Even after his death, Vonnegut has left a legacy that can be cherished by generations to come. It is undeniable that the works of Vonnegut, particularly his major novels, has solidified his reputation as an influential and noteworthy writer. Although his career has been marred by attacks on his literary works, his reputation remains secure.

Thoreaus Walden and Faulkners The Bear describe the theme of centuries old relationship of man and nature. Thoreau and Ike as the central characters of the stories live a simple life in order to escape the desperate and impure world outside the reach of wilderness. They pass through the rights of passage and as their characters develop with passing of time they learn eternal lessons from their experiences.

Te books of Thoreau and Faulkner emphasize the importance of nature. Since the beginning of time human beings were able to survive because they are depended upon their environment, which provides their everyday sustenance. As time progress, different developments took place that makes people more disassociated with their environment (Thoreau 143).  The disparity of an individual with his or her environment also paved the way for the emergence of various problems, which affected the way people perceived themselves (Thoreau 141). The values and morality of the people are very much affected by their disassociation with nature, which both the books highlighted. In relation to this, the pivotal role of going back to the basics and living a simple life is also discussed wherein people will be able to leave the problems that come with a world that is very much disassociated with nature (Faulkner 150).

Furthermore, the characters in both books also represent the dilemma that most people are experiencing. Nowadays, most people usually have stressful and busy lives, which leave them with a feeling of emptiness (Faulkner 123). This emptiness will only be addressed by becoming more interconnected with nature and going back to the basic way of life. The book of Thoreau and Faulkner make people reflect on their everyday lives and make them realize that simplicity and being connected with nature are actually a better way of living.

In sociology, one clear and truthful notion is that man needs nature and the forces around it in order to become someone of skills, knowledge and worth. The society is one factor in the development of an individual because the society develops the individual by dictating the norms and the cultures by which the person is expected to act accordingly. Social skills are as imperative as intellectual and emotional abilities. The school, for instance, has been viewed as one general source of almost all abilities reinforcing what has been taught to a child at home. The home in return, is expected to instill basic life skills, knowledge and values for the person to be initially geared up for survival. Finally, the church is another factor in honing a person to become someone of worth and value. Indeed, it is in this light that this essay agrees for the fact that religion has this great impact in the molding of not just a persons character but the entire societys public civil life. But this is not to say that religion has the sole monopoly of that role in molding citizenship.

The Church, the family and the school are three essential aspects of human life which man could not live without if the intention is to grow morally upright.

The pious instructions of my parents were often fresh in my mind, when I happened to be among wicked children, and were of use to me. Having a large family of children, they used frequently, on first-days, after meeting, to set us one after another to read the Holy Scriptures, or some religious books, the rest sitting by without much conversation I have since often thought it was a good practice. From what I had read and heard, I believed there had been, in past ages, people who walked in uprightness before God in a degree exceeding any that I knew or heard of now living and the apprehension of there being less steadiness and firmness amongst people in the present age often troubled me while I was a child. (Woolman, 178)

Here, Woolman attests to the convergence of religion and the home in weaving the standard moral uprightness required of him as a man. He further appreciates how his parents were able to infuse religious activities and other sacred endeavors in disciplining their children. Indeed, as children will be honed to become better people, they too are geared up to becoming individuals of worth that could turn the world into a better place to live in. As man is taught the real essence of life, he seeks for his purpose in simple yet meaningful ways. Crevecoeur was able to infuse the ideal American society into his writing of the Letters from an American Farmer. Crevecoeur viewed America as a society ideal for people to live in because it is enveloped in the absence of aristocratic class and religious intolerance.

Our religion does not oppress the cultivators We are strangers to those feudal institutions which have enslaved so many. Here, nature opens her broad lap to receive the perpetual accession of new comers, and to supply them with food. I am sure that I cannot be called a partial American when I say that the spectacle afforded b y these pleasing scenes must be more entertaining and more philosophical than that which rises from beholding the musty ruins of Rome. (Crevecoeur, 10)

This remark from Crevecoeur further proves the fact that religions setbacks are strong enough to influence the creation of an ideal society. Religion did not, in any way, oppress the American farmers in terms of feudalism thus, giving them freedom to cultivate their own culture and moral standards. Crevecoeur further analyzed richness and intellect as that of the soil cultivated and tilled to be capable of producing good crops.
Minister I felt perplexed and dry my mind was likened unto a parched soil which produced nothing, not even weeds. By the blessing of the heaven and my perseverance in study, I grew richer in thoughts, phrases and words Now I can abundantly teach by any text that occurs to my mind. (Crevecoeur, 16)

Thus, the mind and behavior of a person is honed by his belief to the Divine Power. Nourishment of the body comes in great beneficial relationship with the nourishment of the mind and the spirit. Religion has a great role in molding the entire society because its failure or success could either make or break life respectively.

There is a harmony in the sound of that voice to which Divine love gives utterance, and some appearance of right order in their temper and conduct whose passions are regulated yet these do not fully show forth that inward life to those who have not felt it this white stone and new name is only known rightly by such as receive it. (Wooolman, 182)

Ones recognition of the Divine Faith is indeed helpful in redirecting meaning and worth to life. Good people make up a good society. They are able to work according to their duties to their fellow men much more to themselves. It is through faith that one could live in selfless altruistic manner. Crevecoeur and Woolman are two brilliant writers who are able to give the right possibility of creating our own Utopia as long as we have a good grip of divine faith.

On the other hand, we cannot say that religion has the monopoly of providing the moral fiber of society. Public civil life and citizenship are such broad concerns of which religion may only be a part. As proof of this is that most European countries and highly industrialized societies have dwindling number of church goers and yet they are all good citizens. Other social institutions can account for good citizenship even without the role of religion. The government for example can provide incentives for voluntarism as well as punishment of crime. Thus the citizens are kept in check to always follow the law. The family in general can provide the basic values as to how one can live in society peacefully. The media can actually provide meaning and goals to individuals. There are other secular philosophies and systems of meaning that can replace the valuable role that religion can provide. When one is navigating society one is always kept in check not to violate social and cultural norms, mores, and codes of conduct. The modern forces of secularism, rationality and reason, science, and existential philosophies also help out in creating a suitable moral standing among people that does not violate the laws of charity and at the same time provide good citizenship.

So while we can say that religion is really important in molding ones character, citizenship and public civil life, there are other factors that help out doing the same role.

Science fiction writing has many different forms, but the most common are those with gadgets and what is called space opera. In science fiction, there is usually fantastic scenarios, technologies and situations within the realm of possible science. In many science fiction novels, the focal point is usually contrary to the known reality. Scenarios like a hundred years into the future, or extensive space exploration and an intergalactic war, technologies like Warp Drive, lightsabers, powered suits of armor, or a totally collapsed, post-apocalyptic society, are some of the traits of science fiction(Hartwell, 1996). But there is another subgenre of science fiction that deals with something a bit different social matters in a setting that is more akin to science fiction. There is what we call a sociological speculation about a certain scenario that can happen if, for example, a certain technology like robots became a mainstream part of human lives. How will people react How will people open up and live with them Will there be a welcome with open arms or flat out rejection and antagonism These stories that deal with such scenarios are dubbed Social Science Fiction.

Isaac Asimov, one of the pioneers of social science fiction and said to be the creator of the term (cited by Bretnor, 1953), has claimed that social science fiction is the best and most appropriate form of fiction in the Atomic Age.  Asimovs view has a point, as he lived in the times were technology exploded due to World War II and the Cold War. Interest in the sciences were high due to the rapid scientific discoveries of the early 1900s, and the devastating use of science and technology in World War II and the subsequent Cold War between the USA and the Soviet Union. Asimov, a humanist and a rationalist, was a more stringent opponent of superstition and pseudoscience (cited by Levinson, 1982) in dealing with human affairs. His rationalist approach may not be everyones cup of tea, but he is well-respected among his peers. He was able to rationalize technologies like nuclear power for civil use, despite the potential of nuclear power to cause untold destruction. Social science fiction was an avenue to show people what can happen if they let emotions, and forgetting that they have a rational mind, run loose. The threat of war in both World War II and the Cold War was primarily fueled by emotions rather than rational thought. Science and Technology evolved very rapidly, but the fuel was a desire to defeat an enemy rather than to produce a good. Asimov often used social issues like oppression in his works. He had the idea that science and technology has a social price, like the oppression found in The Currents of Space, and The Stars, like Dust.

Exploration, with the chance of finding breakthroughs is a common theme in science fiction, and the focal point of Weinbaums A Martian Oddysey. The protagonist Jarvis, stuck in the Martian surface after a crash, meets an intelligent being which he named Tweel manages to communicate with it using logic and some learning of basic words. His long trek with Tweel over the Martian surface gave Jarvis more than he bargained for he knew the Martian flora and fauna present as there were past expeditions but he never saw them up close an near-immortal creature made of silica, a creature that feeds on the dreams and desires of organisms to lure prey, and the distinct barrel-like creatures that collect all kinds of refuse, reproduce by parthogenesis and sacrifice themselves to a massive mechanism. The stories he told to his colleagues made them think that Jarvis has gone crazy from his trek. But when he picked up a strange crystal that made his injuries and a wart in his hand go away instantly, he knows he found something very valuable, in addition to his friendship with Tweel, who he met by saving its life from a dream-beast. Tweel also repaid the favor when he was caught in the mind games of the dream-beast. The story showed a classic point exploring is the whole sum of the experiences a person has in a journey, and Jarvis was enlightened by this experience. He now knew that Mars has more things in store for them, and there could open new doors for mankind and perhaps the Martian civilization, which shared the view of the solar system as with humans evidenced by Tweels ecstatic reaction when Jarvis drew the solar system for it. Science fiction is used there to stoke the interests of exploration of people, to continue to strive for new discoveries that just might change human life. Its for people who need inspiration, like students.

Science fiction can also provide an off-center view of human life, or what people are living for in a different context and scenario. In Anthony Bouchers Q.U.R. , mankind has reached out to other planets such as Venus and Mars, there is what we call the Brotherhood of Man, and part of their history were two massive interplanetary War of Conquests which ended up good, in the case of Venus, or in the near destruction of the human race as what happened in the Second War of Conquest against Mars. There is extreme prejudice towards the Venusian aliens, as evidenced by the Venusian-baiting incident in the beginning, but not much on the Martians. Humans and Martians seem to work well together, but Dugg Quimby, one of the protagonists of the story, say that the Terrene Supremacy Doctrine is flawed and hated by humans and aliens and in his own words No one is looking at things straight. Everybody looks around the corners of their prejudices. In the setting of the story, there is what Quimby called a Robot epidemic, and the monopoly of robots produced by Robots Inc. or Robinc, according to Quimby, are too complicated for the simple tasks they were meant to do. Mans arrogance produced robots that were mainly images of himself rather than useful machines, hence the propensity for catastrophic failure. Prejudice is a sad and common fact of human life, and Science fiction can be an eye opener, again to inspire people to be more decisive and a willing participant on these social issues. The nameless protagonist gives the reader a first hand account on how the upstart Q.U.R. (Quimbys Usufruct Robots) aims to shake the existing conditions set by the Terrene Supremacy Doctrine and the monopoly by Robinc by producing no-nonsense usufruct robots.

When there are new technologies and discoveries by scientists and the academic institutions, how do the people react to it Do they embrace it with open arms, or oppose it vehemently How do the scientists feel when they do the things they do Do they do it for fame and fortune or do they want the Greater Good The story Greater Than Gods by C.L. Moore describes this scenario a scientist, Dr. William Cory is working on a genetic determination program to help parents decide a babys gender. However, he is also lovestruck from two women the fun, carefree Sallie or the stoic but caring Marta. He was writing a marriage proposal for only one of them, when a colleague told him about the possibility that a persons actions in life is predestined, but if a person unlocks the Plane of Probability he can change it, one that transgresses the will of the Gods.

Undecided, he suddenly found his future descendants standing before him Sue who came from a union with Sallie, and Billy, who came from a union with Marta. Both represented futures that were in a way a mirror on the personality of Dr. Cory. In Sues future, Corys work was unfinished and humanity grew to a maternalistic society with unprecedented peace and stability, but later led to the ruin of the human race. Sue represented his more kinder side, caring, loving and seeking happiness. In Billys future, the system was perfected and it made humanity an all-conquering civilization, but it was a society with no happiness, no love and worst of all devoid of soul. It was a representation of Dr. Corys ambition, pride, and desire for success, he wanted to be somebody and give good to the world. Both were polar opposites, and they were very attractive to him. He had to make a choice. The theme was that if people know their destiny, would they follow it blindly Or will people reject that notion and practice their free will Another question posed there are people willing to risk their ambition and personal desires for the greater good of people Science fiction can provide insights to how a person might react in this kind of situation.

A similar scenario happens in the seminal book The Skylark of Space by Edward E. Smith, where there is a quintessential battle between the honorable, honest Dr. Dick Seaton against the selfish, scheming Dr. Marc DuQuesne. Seatons discovery of the reactions of copper to the mysterious element X was a success, though it needed some help from DuQuesne to totally unlock it. But thats where the two men diverge paths Seaton wanted people to benefit from it, DuQuesne wanted the technology for himself to profit from it. The characters of the two men were polar opposites, yet they both have some quirks, especially DuQuesne, who does follow a code of honor helping Seaton and his cohorts get home. Science fiction can tell people that science and technology can fall in the hands of people of questionable morals and it is peoples responsibility to use these scientific discoveries primarily for the search of truth and knowledge, as well as the improvement of human lives.

Inspiration for the sciences takes many different forms. In the case of Hugo Gernsback, it was a copy of Mars as an Abode of Life by Percival Lowell to take Hugo Gernsback to inspire him to produce amazing stories from sciences and fantasy. Science fiction is there to inspire people to look towards the sciences. Gernsback already had an interest in electricity and electric mechanisms, and that childlike interest was carried on throughout his life, as he wrote stories and published his many different science fiction journals and magazines. He was also a man of many ideas, ranging from electricity, philosophy, radio, physics, television, even sex He was also an inventor, from words he introduced in his science fiction stories to different battery and wireless technologies, holding up to 80 patents to his name. Indeed, his mark to the science fiction world was there, but without the inspiration by science fiction in his life, Hugo Gernsback would not have influenced many other people to dabble in the sciences and science fiction.

Science fiction may be meant to portray what the future can bring to humanity, but its not always a sure-fire tool to predict what technologies and discoveries can pop up in the future. Hugo Gernsbacks work Ralph 124C41 proved that. Though it gave people some things to look forward to, like the Telephot (Videophone), Tele-theater (more akin to a Television) , Aeroflyer (transatlantic travel), and the Telautograph (like a fax machine), some are just too far-fetched to make things happen like the Vacation City (a city with antigravity), and the weather-controlling Meteoro-Towers. Science fiction makes for great imaginative works but at times, imagined things get out of hand when people expect these things to happen in the future. A lot of people who read these stories tend to believe that there is life on the planets Mars and Venus, like the ones mentioned in the stories Q.U.R. and A Martian Odyssey. But when science and technology finally did catch up to the imaginations of the science fiction writers, they found the sad truth there is no life on Mars nor Venus, no pyramids made of blocks of silica and glowing crystals that emit radiation that cures disease and pain. No intelligent life forms like Tweel and Guzub, nor any of the fantastic flora and fauna found in A Martian Odyssey. Science Fiction is not wholly meant for gullible very impressionistic people, there is still a hint of critical analysis involved. In addition, science fiction is not a source of scientific facts, though writers base their imaginative acts on scientific fact. In Ralph 124C41, space ships are powered by gyroscopes, or gyroscopic devices. Fantastic it may be, but gyroscopes are primarily tools for orientation. Gernsback failed predict the use of rocketry to propel man to space.