Alternate Blog Topic: Multiculturalism > COMPLETE Assimilation.

I'm subbing Assignment #4 for this one.

I don’t think that Vonnegut particularly sympathized with the German people. I think he certainly showed Germans in a better light, at a time where they usually aren't, like when that blind German innkeeper  on page 181 let the American soldiers stay in his barn while giving them soup, coffee and beer. But, I don't think he intentionally tried to sympathize with the German people.  I think he (like always) just wrote it how it was, and how he saw it. People at that time, and still today, would say “All German soldiers in World War II were bad”. And yes, it can be argued that a lot of them had a couple screws loose. The atrocity that was the Holocaust will probably never be forgotten, and shouldn’t be forgotten. But saying that every German soldier was bad is over generalizing to the max. They were just like any other soldier at that time. Why do you think that soldiers try to never give the enemy a face? Because they don't want the soldiers to think about what they are ending once they pull that trigger. But I think that’s exactly what Vonnegut did in Slaughterhouse 5. He gave the enemy a face, and showed that not only were the German soldiers not that different from any other, but the German people weren't as well.

I don’t think that complete assimilation or cultural conformity is ever justifiable, unless it is of your own free will. I think that everybody should be proud of where they come from, and anybody has the right to flaunt it. I’m not saying completely shut out your new country’s traditions and customs. You should embrace those too, just don’t conform completely.

As far as the Vonnegut family's complete assimilation goes, I don’t really think they had much of a choice. It would probably have been in the Vonnegut’s family’s best interest to keep their German heritage to themselves anyways, because if they did come out and embrace their culture at that time they would have probably gotten a lot of trouble for it. Think about it. If your son went out to war, and he was killed in the war by a German, wouldn’t you blame the Germans for it? Maybe you could, because a German probably did kill him. But the German side and their side are basically the same. They’re fighting for their country. I don’t think anybody wakes up in the morning saying “Oh goodie, I get to kill more people today”. They didn’t really have much of a choice, much like how Vonnegut’s family probably didn’t have a choice in hiding their German roots.

I can’t even picture what it must have been for Vonnegut and his family at that time. Just imagine, you’re German, and your country is fighting against Germany! It’s like doublethink from 1984- “Fight against Germany to protect your home and your culture”… but technically Germany was your home first and your culture is the one you’re fighting against? Doesn’t really make much sense… but then again, war is nonsensical.