Shanda Wilkinson

Vonneguts Opinion on Substance Abuse
Published by Shanda Wilkinson

Vonnegut's Opinion on Substance Abuse

Kurt Vonnegut was conflicted in his feelings toward addiction, and his feelings show in some of his writings. So, how would Vonnegut feel about available resources for substance abuse in today's society? Vonnegut says in an essay on the dangers of sponsoring wars that people who are "addicted to substances that give them brief spasms of pleasure but in the long term transmute their lives and the lives of those around them into ultimate ghastliness" (Vonnegut, 1983, para. 3). Because he did not have an addiction, Vonnegut might argue that compassion extends to all people with no discrimination to anyone with a substance abuse disorder.

Vonnegut became a depressed adult, and although not addicted to drugs, he was addicted to cigarettes. He says, "I am of course notoriously hooked on cigarettes. I keep hoping the things will kill me. A fire at one end and a fool at the other (Vonnegut, 2005, p.41). Bunbury says he, too, is quoted as saying, "About my own history of foreign substance abuse, I've been a coward about heroin and cocaine, LSD and so on, afraid they might put me over the edge. I did smoke a joint of marijuana one time with Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead, just to be sociable. It didn't seem to do anything to me one way or the other, so I never did it again" (Bunbury, 2013. Vonnegut). In essence, drugs were not something he would often partake in. 

Vonnegut lived a long life filled with sadness. Harris says, "His once wealthy family was impoverished by the Great Depression, having lost their "American Dream," thus causing grim strains in his parents' marriage. His mother committed suicide. His beloved sister died of breast cancer a day after her husband was killed in a train accident. However, the defining horror of Vonnegut's life was his wartime experience and surviving the Dresden bombing, only to be sent into the ruins as prison labour in order to collect and burn the corpses" (Harris, 2018). He survived a great deal in his 84 years of life. Some of these things would be enough trauma to commence abusing substances, but fortunately, Vonneugut did not succumb to the lifestyle of drugs and addiction.

In the middle of the 1960s, Vonnegut considered giving up on himself and his writing career. In 1999, he wrote in the New York Times, "I had gone broke, was out of print, and had a lot of kids…" (1994, NY Times). Vonnegut had an admirer who advocated for him at the University of Iowa. There, he had a teaching job at the Iowa Writers Workshop. His admirer likely saved his career. He spent two years there and was on his way up as a popular writer. After its release in 1969, Slaughterhouse-Five catapulted Vonnegut to fame.

Having come through such trials, precisely his time as a POW in WWII greatly influenced his writing. His struggles steered the way to themes of wars' agonies, to pursue the meaning in an absurd world and the value of compassion and understanding. He would go on to write about the pointlessness and cruelty of war. His novel, Slaughterhouse-Five, resulted from his wartime escapades, as he was held captive in a slaughterhouse meat locker. It searches out the idea of coping mechanisms for the trauma suffered in war. This novel was also Vonnegut's sixth novel and his big breakthrough. 

“If you would bother to read my books, to behave as educated persons would, you would learn that they are not sexy and do not argue in favor of wildness of any kind. They beg that people be kinder and more responsible than they often are” (Biography-Kurt Vonnegut, 2022). He believed each person held worth and that we should treat each other kindly and respectfully. Vonnegut advocated for social equality and believed we should connect with others to find meaning in those relationships and that people should not mindlessly follow leaders and ideas. 

These ideas show he would have compassion for those struggling with substance abuse because they are people, too, and that we should sympathize with everyone regardless of their walk in life or their background. He has shown this time and again in his works. For example, an excerpt from his work, "Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies- "God damn it, you've got to be kind" (Vonnegut, 1965. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater). From birth to death, he believed kindness was how to make it through life.

Vonnegut credits his values and morals to his family's cook and caretaker, a black woman named Ida Young. Miss Young helped raise him for the first decade of his life. Augello quotes Vonnegut, "She was more of a mother to me than my own mother" (Augello, 2022, Teaching Vonnegut and Race). Vonnegut describes her in the same ways that align with his morals and beliefs, as she significantly influenced the man he became. Vonnegut was a reflection of Miss Young.

Vonnegut believed, in a sense, that we are one and here to help each other get through life. These works and biographies prove Vonnegut still looked at people with compassion and kindness despite his life and pain. He showed them grace and understanding and  believed social equality was for everyone regardless of background. All humans deserve access to the same opportunities, eliminating discrimination and guaranteeing impartiality. He was not addicted to drugs; he was addicted to kindness and equality. Equality is what is needed to improve and provide better resources not just to our friends and neighbors but also to those struggling with substance abuse as well.