Editing Kurt Vonnegut (section)

==== Life ====
Vonnegut also confronts the idea of [[free will]] in a number of his pieces. In ''Slaughterhouse-Five'' and ''Timequake'' the characters have no choice in what they do; in ''Breakfast of Champions'', characters are very obviously stripped of their free will and even receive it as a gift; and in ''Cat's Cradle'', Bokononism views free will as [[heresy|heretical]].{{sfn|Sharp|2006|p=1366}}

The majority of Vonnegut's characters are estranged from their actual families and seek to build replacement or extended families. For example, the engineers in ''Player Piano'' called their manager's spouse "Mom". In ''Cat's Cradle'', Vonnegut devises two separate methods for loneliness to be combated: A "karass", which is a group of individuals appointed by God to do his will, and a "[[granfalloon]]", defined by Marvin as a "meaningless association of people, such as a fraternal group or a nation".{{sfn|Marvin|2002|p=20}} Similarly, in ''Slapstick'', the US government codifies that all Americans are a part of large extended families.{{sfn|Sharp|2006|p=1365}}

Fear of losing one's purpose in life is a theme in Vonnegut's works. During the Great Depression Vonnegut witnessed the devastation many people felt when they lost their jobs, and while at General Electric he witnessed machines being built to take the place of human labor. He confronts these things in his works through references to the growing use of automation and its effects on human society. This is most starkly represented in his first novel, ''Player Piano'', where many Americans are left purposeless and unable to find work, as machines replace human workers. Loss of purpose is also depicted in ''Galápagos'', where a florist rages at her spouse for creating a robot able to do her job, and in ''Timequake'', where an architect kills himself when replaced by computer software.{{sfn|Sharp|2006|pp=1365–1366}}

Suicide by fire is another common theme in Vonnegut's works; the author often returns to the theory that "many people are not fond of life". He uses this as an explanation for why humans have so severely damaged their environment and made devices such as [[nuclear weapon]]s that can make their creators extinct.{{sfn|Sharp|2006|p=1365}} In ''Deadeye Dick'' Vonnegut features the [[neutron bomb]], which is designed to kill people but leave buildings and structures untouched. He also uses this theme to demonstrate the recklessness of those who put powerful, apocalypse-inducing devices at the disposal of politicians.{{sfn|Marvin|2002|p=21}}

"What is the point of life?" is a question Vonnegut often pondered in his works. When one of his characters, Kilgore Trout, finds the question "What is the purpose of life?" written in a bathroom, his response is, "To be the eyes and ears and [[conscience]] of the Creator of the Universe, you fool." Marvin finds Trout's theory curious, given that Vonnegut was an atheist and thus for him, there is no Creator to report back to, and comments that, "[as] Trout chronicles one meaningless life after another, readers are left to wonder how a compassionate creator could stand by and do nothing while such reports come in". In the [[Epigraph (literature)|epigraph]] to ''Bluebeard'', Vonnegut quotes his son Mark and gives an answer to what he believes is the meaning of life: "We are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is."{{sfn|Marvin|2002|p=20}}