Tom Edison's Shaggy Dog.

I liked "Tom Edison's Shaggy Dog," but I read this story directly after "Harrison Bergeron." The latter had a strong message. I easily grasped this message, which simply warned against granting the government too much power. I did not have as easy of a time understanding "Tom Edison's Shaggy Dog."

I like the way by which Vonnegut introduces one plot, the one involving the two men talking on a park bench, but then commences a second series of invents, involving Edison's dog, within the first plot. In the end, I found the story rather amusing and liked the way "the stranger" created a type of diversion to get away from Bullard. Even so, I am having a more difficult time connecting the story to a more profound theme; perhaps one does not exist. In addition, the most intriguing events all occured on the last page, whereas the first of the story, at least, passed by slowly.

Harrison Bergeron

"Harrison Bergeron" one of, if not, my favorite story in the collection. The whole premise seemed to be anti-Communist to me, though Vonnegut, like most writers, never admits this outright. I found interesting the idea of everyone being equal in the future, not just in the eyes of the law but in every aspect known to man. Some of the images, like the idea of "handicapping" the gifted, were especially haunting.

In the end though, I couldn't help but wonder why Vonnegut wrote a story so anti-communist when many of his works protest war. I noticed that the story was first written/pulished in 1961, when anti-Vietnam sentiment was not that strong yet. Perhaps Vonnegut was more caught up in the Cold War at the time.

Where I Live

I can't really say that I liked "Where I Live." I expected the story to be good because it is the first piece in the entire book, yet it doesn't even really seem to be a short story to me. Vonnegut introduces to the reader an encyclopedia salesman who, at first, appears to be the protagonist, but eventually any potential plot just seemed to fall into oblivion from there. I now consider "Where I Live" to be more of and introduction to the rest of the book (even though there is a preface too), rather than one of Vonnegut's stories. After looking at the piece through a different lens, one with fewer expectations, I found the "story" to be an interesting analysis of Cape Codders, who I have now learned are somewhat exclusive in their ways.

Long Walk to Forever

I didn't plan on reading this story, but I was too curious to see the less satirical and more sweet side of Vonnegut, so I couldn't resist. My overall reaction was that it was an okay story. What immediately caught my attention was that the guy's name was Newt. This is the name of one of the characters from Cat's Crave. Therefore, as I was reading I couldn't help but make comparisons of the two characters in my mind. First of all, the Newt in Cat's Cradle falls in love as well, but in Long Walk to Forever the love was different because Catherine loves him for him and what sacrifices he made fore her. Rather, in Cat's Cradle, Newt's lover doesn't actually love him and deserts him. I found myself happy that things worked out for Newt this time, even though the other one is still sad and lonely stuck in the pages of Cat's Cradle. Also, I thought it was interesting how both Newts were very pure characters who were simply looking for love. They stood out, because they lived life and tried to make the best out of their time on the planet. The Newt from this story even broke the rules of the Military to pursue love, this sends a message to the reader that sometimes you have to break away from the guidelines of society to find purpose in life and simply love.

Who Am This Time?

This story is probably one of my favorite from this book thus far. I was really interested in the characters especially Harry and Helen. For Harry, it's like he has no personality and must be told how to act and what to say by the scripts of the plays that he is in. This reminded me of some people that I know who don't seem to be able to think for themselves. They simply follow the 'script' given to them by society. They never say anything offensive, yet they never say or do anything real. These types of people just seem to float through life, slipping through the shadows stuck in a world that only appears to exist. The other character in this story that really caught my attention was Helen. Helen was a character that had never experienced love before. She was so dry and fake. It was almost like, if she is never going to let herself experience love then what's the point of even being there. At one point in the story Helen was compared to a machine, and I feel that more and more people are starting to become just like Helen. They simply go through life on autopilot and don't even feel any extreme emotions. Sure Helen wasn't sad, but she was numb. This is like the idea of whether you'd like to live life like a cockroach, long and boring, or if you'd like to live life like a firefly, short but exciting?

Tom Edison's Shaggy Dog

"And then is when Edison showed me what a great scientist he was. He was willing to face the truth, no matter how unpleasant it might be."

This quote really caught my attention, because it seemed like Vonnegut was warning his audience that truth isn't always positive and sometimes the things that we discover can be harmful to ourselves. Also, I thought that this short story showed how Vonnegut is unease about scientists and what they do. For example, the narrator says that he doesn't regard Edison as 'the great inventor.' Also, Vonnegut used to work for General Motors but didn't like it there, and this dislike for big powerful removed businesses is shown in his mentioning of Ford in this story as well. This story made me think that what if there are scientists out there that know something monumental about our society but have not told us. I think that the 'truth' presented in this story would have huge negative impacts on our world and shows how we have to be careful when looking for answers to all our worldly questions, because sometimes the answers that we get are not what we wanted.