Welcome to the Monkey House

01

"Give me a stick, I pry the earth to show you." In yesterday's chat, a good friend talked about the 17-year-old who was not afraid of the earth.

Very emotional.

The young and wild people, more or less Kurt Vonnegut's "cool".

As a novelist, Vonnegut said, "I wrote so well that I offended every one."

In the 1960s, his existence was almost a national icon for generations of young Americans.

A soul icon.

And of course had many celebrity fans, such as Muraki Harukami, Graham Greene, Norman Mailer, John Irving, and others.

Graham Greene publicly esteemed him as "one of the best contemporary American writers".

Many people have had a moment of "debauchery", but ultimately did not suffer from the time of torture.

Because, "wantonness" is not a kind of acquisition, but an attitude.

02

Vonnegut began to smoke in his teens.

At the age of 81, he threatened to take the cigarette company he had been smoking with all his life to court.

Because the cigarette box says that smoking is fatal, he keeps on living.

This interesting old man.

Many people, because of Feng's outlandish deeds and humorous writing style, identified him as an optimist.

He is a bit mournful, and humor is an attitude towards the world.

Von had a father who was an architect and wanted his son to be an engineer to get a golden job.

So Vonnegut studied chemistry because their father paid for it.

Von then wrote for the newspaper at school and suffered for three years until the advent of World War II.

The young man, who could not sit still like a monkey at that time, immediately signed up for the army.

During the war, he was captured by the Nazis and did hard labor in an underground freezer, becoming one of the few who survived.

Afterward, he experienced the Great Bombing and the destruction of a city firsthand.

"How would the survivors feel? One of the reactions must be laughter. God knows it's the soul looking for relief."

So he has a unique interpretation and respect for laughter and humor.

After the end of World War II, he became a writer.

His early short stories are compiled in this book, "Welcome to the Monkey House".

For those who have read this novel, welcome to The Monkey House in the Real World.

03

"Sex is death, the proof is over."

In the short story "Welcome to the Monkey House", Vonnegut unfolds such a world.

The Earth's population has reached 17 billion, and to control the population, the government takes two measures.

The first is to encourage ethical suicide (euthanasia), with such government agencies nearby; and mandatory ethical birth control, or chemical castration, with a pill taken eight hours to ensure numbness in the lower half of the body.

The pill is ethical because it only takes away sexual pleasure, but does not affect fertility.

People who refuse to take the pill are called "inorganic heads" and are fined $10,000 and imprisoned for ten years if caught once.

Billy "The Poet" was a notorious inorganic head.

He went around vandalizing ethical suicide stores and "cunningly abducting" one pretty waitress after another.

In the zoo of society, the monkeys are difficult to escape the fate of castration.

But the point is, you know exactly what you're going through, and you see the choices that have been taken away from us, where they belong.

That's the theme of the collection of novels.

Several science fiction essays are the progenitors of "Black Mirror".

For example, "Electric Joy" is about the joyous victory of the will.

3 friends inadvertently received a kind of sound wave from the universe.

This sound wave makes all the people in the town paralyzed on the floor, face happy joy, no pain, and do not want to do anything.

Similar to "electronic opium".

One of the gentlemen smelled the business opportunity, ready to develop commercialization.

He opened the trial version at home, and instantly everyone's face was a picture of satisfaction and peace.

No dissatisfaction, no hunger, no passage of time, until death.

So a life of only rejoicing, true has meaning?

If one could get rid of one's body and just have consciousness, what would you choose?

And what kind of meaning is our physical existence?

The short story "The Unwearable Body", shows such a world.

This monkey house, are you in it, or are you not in it?

04

"It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter; it's a round, humid, crowded place. Joe, at best you'll be on Earth for about a hundred years. The only rule I know is Joe, you should fucking be nice to people."

Vonnegut wrote to a young man.

The world has its colors, but no matter what, you have to be as kind as possible.

This kindness is reflected in Vonnegut's words and his gentle return to the world.

In addition to the magnificent science fiction, is a lot of warm and loving stories.

The two partners who grew up together as childhood friends have not seen each other for more than a year.

The goodbye comes when the boy hears that the girl is getting married in a week and steals away from the army.

He just wanted to express, what he had never expressed before: like her.

So they went out for a walk and a stroll to make their intentions clear, and finally The Long Road Until Forever.

Another article, too, is very sincere and heartwarming.

David owns a newspaper, but on the verge of his wife having a child, the pressure at home increases suddenly.

To seek a stable, David plans to sell the newspaper and apply for a job in a big factory.

On his first day at work, David encounters an incident: a deer mistakenly enters an industrial park.

The editor-in-chief asks him to capture the photo, which will possibly be put on the front page.

David is like the deer, ignorantly bumping around in his new workplace.

He saw the wounded deer and let it go.

When one is still human and encounters a dehumanizing spec factory, you need to see yourself.

See yourself hurt and see if you fit into the situation at hand.

This is what the short story "Deer in the Factory" is about, allowing yourself to protect the deer in your heart and return it to the mountains even if it is out of place.

Vonnegut asks his son, who has reached middle age, "What did we come to this bullshit world for?"

His son said, "Dad, we came into the world to help each other through life, no matter what kind of life it is."

05

In the introduction to the book, he says bluntly: I used to want to leave "here," and it was disgraceful. I don't want to leave anymore.

What Vonnegut's book brings us is his approach to life: wiping the shit off everything, and not being miserable.

The way he does it is with stories.

In the book, there is this little short story called "Who am I this time?

An actor named Harry, as soon as he acts, immediately fleshes out and plays whoever he is.

Once back to real life, they do not know who they are, just want to escape.

This is a true reflection of many people, social fear. Afraid to chat face to face, afraid to answer the phone, afraid of trouble, afraid to deal with people.

Because of the need to enter the identity, many times do not know which identity to enter.

As Vonnegut says: we all become the image we play, so we must be very careful when we dress up.

So take away all the rules and regulations.

Become the person you want to be.

After all, "Our goal is to make the world a better place than it was when we were born."