Vonnegut on fathers and sons

I find it interesting that I’ve read two stories back to back about fathers and sons.  I read another short story from Kurt Vonnegut’s collection Bagombo Snuff Box called “This Son of Mine”.   The Vonnegut stories I’ve read so far combine a small “slice of life” moment with major insights into relationships and the world in general.

This is the age-old story in which a son disappoints his father by not wanting to take over the family business.  Merle and Franklin (named after Benjamin Franklin- one might be inclined to think “high expectations”), the father and son already mentioned, shoot clay pigeons with Rudy and Karl, a father and son who “seem” to have the perfect relationship.  In just a short time together, Vonnegut incorporates comparisons and contrasts in which he draws this bittersweet conclusion while Rudy and Karl play music:

…the music wasn’t speaking anymore of just Rudy and Karl.  It was speaking of all fathers and sons.  It was saying what they had all been saying haltingly, sometimes with pain and sometimes with anger and sometimes with crueltly and sometimes with love:  that fathers and sons were one.

It was saying, too, that a time for a parting in spirit was near – no matter how close anyone held anyone, no matter what anyone tried.

“Show us which button to push, Lou.”

Last week, Jay at Bibliophilopolis posted about Kurt Vonnegut’s short story, “The Package”, included in the collection Bagombo Snuff Box.  He didn’t disclose the story’s ending but made the build up so interesting that I had to give it a try.  It was well worth it.  I won’t go into all the details of the story because you can read both the story and Jay’s post for yourself.

The story’s timeframe and setting was both brilliant and humorous,  a good way of describing much of Vonnegut’s work.  The encounter between pull-himself-up-by-his-bootstraps Earl and born-with-a-silver-spoon-in-his-mouth Charley takes place over the course of a few hours, decades after the two were fraternity brothers in college, while Earl and his wife are discovering their brand new large house with photographers from Home Beautiful magazine.  The home comes with all the latest gadgets requiring the continuous pushing of buttons.

While the ending has a certain twist to it, Vonnegut really gives you everything you need to know throughout the story in order for the ending to “ring true”.  The story is one of my favorites so far this year.