Transgresijos tema Kurt Vonnegut romane „Skerdykla Nr. 5“

Theme of Transgression in Kurt Vonnegut‘s Novel "Slaughterhouse-Five" The object of this Bachelor Thesis is to analyze Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse five using a notion of transgression expressed by literature critic Michail Bakhtin. In order to achieve the aim the following objectives have been set: 1) to present and analyze theoretical material concerning carnivalesque; 2) to analyze the novel Slaughterhouse five using the theory; 3) to understand the reason why Vonnegut breaks the boundaries of society. The methodology applied in the present Thesis included: 1) the close reading method which was applied in order to find and recognize the elements of transgressive narrative; 2) concept of carnivalesque, which helped to describe the phenomenon of grotesque and specifying its basic peculiarities, and 3) the theory of semiotics that allowed to determine the way how the meaning is processed. The notion of carnivalesque was divided into smaller signifiers: parody, death, grotesque display, satire, Billingsgate, fearlessness, madness and mask. All these signifiers were found in the text and analyzed in a context of Bakhtin‘s theory. This helped to form a perspective of the novel and to understand the meaning behind words. It appeared that Vonnegut breaks the taboo in order to establish his own order which is close to carnivalesque order which signifies the world upside down where everyone has an equal dialogical status. The main forces which are attacked by carnivalesque techniques are authoritative institutions of media, government, Church and society itself. Their variations of truth are weakened by means of mockery, showing a different opinion and parody. The main reason of discontent towards the institutions of power is that they do not do enough to prevent violence. Text can also be understood as a form of psychotherapy. In order to weaken the chronic symptoms of war trauma, Kurt Vonnegut creates various alter egos (Billy Pilgrim, Kilgore Trout) and uses them as puppets to talk about the things that worry him. Writing fiction can be helpful dealing with psychical issues as it allows to be more sincere than talking with other people