Surviving Loneliness, Depression, and Death
             The themes of Kurt Vonnegut's short stories are based upon his struggles with
             depression, loneliness and death. Kurt Vonnegut's influences came from the Great
             Depression, family deaths, and also, in part, from being a prisoner of war (Bleiler, 851).
             The themes of Vonnegut's short stories include technology, and government.
             Technology is used in his stories primarily about how it is very powerful, and how it is
             made cruelly beyond human control. The government theme is used in Vonnegut's short
             stories to show in the future, how the world becomes dominated by government, and how
             it controls every action of an individual's daily life. Kurt Vonnegut's struggles had a
             deep and profound impact on the writings of his short stories (Bleiler, 851).
             The Great Depression had an everlasting effect on Kurt Vonnegut's writing. The
             Great Depression, along with Vonnegut's army service was also a major influence in his
             writings (Bleiler, 851). During the years of the Great Depression, Vonnegut's family
             faced emotional and financial problems. Vonnegut's father lost his job during the great
             depression, and he never worked again after that, which also led Vonnegut to write
             Kurt Vonnegut was sent to Germany during the war. Vonnegut became a prisoner
             of war, and he was held captive in Dresden, Germany. He was captured and was forced
             to work in an underground factory, which was named Slaughterhouse-Five, a name of one
             of his novels. While he was underground working Dresden was totally destroyed by
             Allied heavy explosives and phosphorus bombs (Bleiler, 851).
             An estimated 135,000 persons were killed in the air raid, and most of the deceased
             were civilians. Vonnegut and other prisoners survived because their workplace
             (Slaughterhouse-Five) was underground. Right after the bombing Vonnegut and others
             w...