"Breakfast of Champions" In Kurt Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions, the narrator believes Americans are doing the best to live "like the characters in story books" (pg. 49). He believes that the problems our planet faces are a direct result of our individual desires to attain our story book perfect lives. Through this "colorful" and outrageous story of two white men, Kilgore Trout and Dwayne Hoover, Vonnegut twists in some of his concerns and criticisms of the typical American life with humor and sarcasm. His criterion is so insightful and ahead of his time that I could not believe it was published in 1973. Living these "story book" lives "encourages people to kill one another and themselves for the effect of a dramatic ending" (pg. …show more content…

We are addicted and are at their mercy just waiting for the inevitable. Where do we get our cars from? The U.S.? Sometimes, how about Europe or Japan? Years ago we were among the first and best car builders, but all that has changed. Today, most of our cars today are foreign. Over population and ownership are also key topic addressed in the novel. Since we have had society and social understandings, property has been a reason for war. A extending property lines into natural obstacles like mountains, or rivers has always been sought after those seeking to establish their land. When Christopher Columbus came over in 1492 he didn't say "there are others here, let's move along." No, he took control over what he wanted and if anyone opposed they would meet a tragic end. He was representing his queen and that meant, "by any means necessary. "In "This Means You," the story where a small number of landowners enact No Trespassing laws, the majority of the people, who are not land owners, are forced to "dangle from strings of helium balloons" to avoid trespassing into private property. With over population not only do we face the problem of limited space, but most importantly that of limited resources. If we have barely enough space to live and do our bare necessities, we can't possibly afford to provide ourselves with the space required to feed all the people of the world. Eventually something is going to have to give in. With