A Modern Anachronism
Authors have their own unique style to develop different tones and themes, and there are countless ways each author conveys his or her theme in the story. Kurt Vonnegut is an esteemed author of many well-known novels. He is also known for his collection of short stories known as Welcome to the Monkey House. One of the short stories called “All the King’s Horses” displays a perfect setting of suspense, and how the effects of war erode soldiers and their families.
To do this, Vonnegut uses a satirical tone with hints of unusual playful expressions; by doing so, he lets readers know that many sacrifices are at times necessary in order to protect loved ones, just Vonnegut’s character Pi Ying says, “a chess game can very rarely be won . . . without sacrifices. The theme is that people shouldn’t rely on their own individual talents and social status to get themselves past obstacles in the path to their goal. Kurt Vonnegut creates his theme with the aid of the satirical tone in the story “All the King’s Horses”.
Vonnegut is implying that there needs to be a point where people use their own unique abilities to enhance what they do for a living. The reason Vonnegut used a game of chess, instead a game of checkers, is for the immense magnitude of possible choices a person can make in the game of life. Every person has his or hers own style, making it so each player in the Miguel 2 game of chess must learn quickly the style of the other person. This concept of adapting rapidly to the opponent is the basic theme Vonnegut clearly wants to convey in the story.
Characters in Vonnegut’s short stories have a unique role, especially in his story “All the King’s Horses”. There are two main characters that develop the tone of sarcasm and cynicism. Colonel Kelly and Pi Ying are two leaders of their own respective groups armed to play a game of chess, which symbolizes two armies in battle. Although Pi Ying uses life-sized chess pieces, Colonel Kelly’s family and the soldiers under his command must listen to the colonel’s orders like pawns.
Pi Ying’s second in command is Major Barzov, who makes a point, ” He’ll learn to be a pawn yet . . . It’s and Oriental skill Americans could do well to learn for the days ahead, eh? ” (99). This quote adds a satirical tone as Kelly is continually losing soldiers literally. Vonnegut chose this tone because he wanted to criticize the lack of respect some people have towards international cultures or at least the misunderstanding. All the King’s Horses” brings the concept of reality to the reader’s attention.
Vonnegut wants to make sure his readers of future generations don’t take family and their prized possessions for granted. Work is a must as technology advances to engulf the “archaic” ways of doing tasks. But some tasks require the archaic work ethic in order to master the task such as in the classic game of chess. Like Colonel Kelly and Pi Ying, people must work efficiently to earn possessions and a loving family.
