I denne study guide får du hjælp til at analysere novellen “2BR02B” af Kurt Vonnegut. Udover analysehjælpen kan du finde et summary af novellen samt forslag til at fortolke og perspektivere den.
Præsentation af teksten
Titel: “2BR02B” (1986)
Forfatter: Kurt Vonnegut
Genre: Short story
Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007) var en særdeles produktiv amerikansk forfatter, der skrev romaner, noveller og skuespil. Hans værker er kendt for deres satiriske tone, sorte humor og dybdegående analyse af det at være menneske. Vonneguts bedst sælgende roman, Slaughterhouse Five (1969), modtog flere priser såsom en Hugo Award og en Nebula Award. Disse priser er store inden for science fiction-genren. Novellen “2BR02B” er skrevet i 1986 og trykt i novellesamlingen Bamboo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction fra 1999.
Uddrag
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Style of language
The story “2BR02B” by Kurt Vonnegut is written in an informal style. The tone is casual, and the narration uses contractions: “The orderly finished the thought with the trick telephone number that people who didn’t want to live any more were supposed to call” (p. 228, ll. 13-15). This helps to convey natural speech patterns.
The characters supporting the system are hiding behind euphemisms. For instance, the municipal gas chambers are officially called the “Ethical Suicide Studios”, which is quite ironical, because forcing people to commit assisted suicide is, in itself, unethical.
Leora Duncan objects to Dr. Hitz’ use of the term “Catbox” for it, because “it gives people the wrong impression” (p. 231, l. 32), while “Ethical Suicide Studios “sounds so much better” (p. 231, l. 38). However, this does not change the fact that the purpose of the institution is to “dispose” of people who choose to die to make room for future generations, which makes the nickname “catbox” more suitable.
