Earticle

초록

영어

This paper examines the meaning of ‘becoming a jailbird’ through the behaviors of Starbuck in Vonnegut’s Jailbird. Starbuck, a Harvard graduate, works as an official in the Nixon administration. He is then summoned as a Watergate co-conspirator and ends up going to jail. When he is released from the prison, he happens to meet his first lover, a shopping bag-lady and president of RAMJAC and is finally changed by her mercy and good will, and is freed from his pessimistic view and despair. But later, in the face of Kathleen’s sudden death, he conceals her will, despite her testament, and goes to jail. As a result, this delays the collapse of RAMJAC and helps the poor and people in need. Before he returns to the prison, he fulfills his self-bestowed responsibility as did Billy of Slaughterhouse-Five, by prescribing corrective lenses for Earthlings thanks to his trip to Tralfamadore. When Starbuck tries to save many people from the corrupted society and the greed of capitalistic system, it shows his spirit of sublimity and sacrifice. At his trial, he invokes the Sermon on the Mount in his unceasing quest for justice. Consequently, Vonnegut seeks justice as a realizable goal through the behaviors of jailbirds such as Starbuck and Trout. Through Jailbird, a mixture of fictionality and historical fabrication, Vonnegut lets us know that we need the love of mankind in order to coexist and realize peace and justice in this absurd world.

목차

I. Introduction
 II. Becoming a Jailbird
 III. Hidden Evil and the Sermon on the Mount
 IV. Conclusion
 Works Cited
 Abstract

키워드

저자

• Park, Kwanghee [ 박광희 | Kangwon National University ]

참고문헌

발행기관

간행물

표지보기 관심저널 등록

• 간행물명

  영어영문학연구 [The Jungang Journal of English Language and Literature]

• 간기

  계간

• pISSN

  1598-3293

• 수록기간

  1968~2025

• 등재여부

  KCI 등재

• 십진분류

  KDC 840 DDC 810