‘Happy Birthday, 1951’ by Kurt Vonnegut Essay

Happy Birthday, 1951 is a short stage written by Kurt Vonnegut. The storey takes place in Dresden in Germany. The report is essentially about an hoar man that constantly tries to teach a six year gray male child, how he believe the world should be like. The title Happy Birthday, 1951 refers to 24 October 1951 where the U. S. President Harry Truman decl bes that the war with Germany is officially over. That also elucidate why the soldiers are go forth the city. During the World War II, Dresden was bombarded by British and American aircraft and the whole city was completely destroyed. That explains why the old man and the boy live in the ruins in Dresden. At that time plurality cant live in the city without documents, since the boy doesnt have documents the old man asks him when he wants his natal day to be, the boy answers that he wants it to be tomorrow.The old man decides to give him a memor fit present for birthday, as a birthday present he decides that they are going to a peaceful place without war. At his birthday they go to the forest, while they are trying to find a place to sit, the boy utterly sees a rusted tank, the tank gets the boys interest ,and he asks the old man if he can go to it. The old man refuses and past they go deeper into the forest. Eventually they find an exceptional place to sit, and they lay down for a nap. In a while after the old man wakes up alone, the boy isnt there. The old man panics. In the end the old man finds the boy who was in the tank playing soldier.The main characters in this layer are the old man and the boy. The old man feels guilty because he hasnt been a good father for the boy, he expresses that several times in the story for example in I havent been a good father You are supposed to get presents. (7. 30 32). Even belief the old man isnt the parent to the child, he still undertakes the responsibility for not giving him a birthday. The old man hates the war and everything that has something to do with it . each time the boy mentions something thats related to the war, the old man gets flurry and panicky. This is also illustrated in this quote. He cut the sentence short You shouldnt be thinking about. (9. 85 87)The old man compares the war with chaos and misery. Its not directly written but its seen between the story lines. The old man is traumatized by thewar. He compares the forest with Eden, and he describes the forest idyllic, this is obvious in this quote. There And what do you think of this? Eden You can have it.The story indicates that the old man has experienced a various war through his life. Its not directly written but its seen through the story lines. I can remember He cut the sentence short. This shows that He has experienced the war, and he also has a vast knowledge of soldiers, due to that the readers can assume that he may have been a soldier in the past. They boy doesnt have an identity, since he was abandoned by his biologic mother and left in care of an old m an. Therefore the boy spends his time with the old man, unlike the old man the boy is fascinated by the war and soldiers. The boy has a difficult with understanding the problem with war and soldiers.He doesnt realize the beauty of the birthday present, because he finds the forest to be lonely and boring, Its very quit, Its lonely, I like better in the city, with the soldiers and-. The boy has also been studying the soldiers, Black and bolshy is the engineers Military police (9. 87-90). This quote clarifies his passion for soldiers, which also is characteristic for a boy in his age. The boy also respects the soldiers allot that is illustrated in this quote. The old man stepped To let him pass. (8. 77 79). Based on these evidences we can conclude that since the boy was raised in that environment, it has had an impact on his perception of soldiers and war.The story ends abruptly, the boy disappears and the old man finds him playing soldier in the tank. The author clarifies the whole storys message by letting it end like that. The frequent message is that no matter how hard you try to convince a child about how terrible war is, they will not be able to understand it in the same way as you, because it requires experience and interest.In the end of the story the old man gets upset, when he discovers that the boy is missing. He gets upset because he worries about him, he loves him and he also wants the best for him. Therefore the old man tries to be his lineament model. But the boy doesnt avow him as his role model. He looks up to the soldiers instead. In that way a conflict arises between them.It is extremely important to have a role model, a role model you feel comfortable with. Role models are important for us mentally, they guide us through life during our development. We look up to our role models for inspiration and we use this inspiration to know how we should behave.Most of us have a role model, some of us have more than one. For some people it is impor tant to have more than one role model, and for some it is not. The most important thing is to have your own role model and not feign other people and it doesnt matter how many role models you have. 1 . http//www.history.com/this-day-in-history/truman-declares-war-with-germany-officially-over 2 . http//militaryhistory.about.com/od/aerialcampaigns/p/World-War-Ii-Bombing-Of-Dresden.htm