Problem
One of America's best-loved novelists, Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007), is famous for novels that satirize the human condition from universal perspectives. His most famous novel, Slaughterhouse-Five, which focuses on the brutality of World War II, has been banned from numerous schools and libraries primarily because of its use of offensive language. In 1973, after the school board in Drake, North Dak,ota literally burned the book, Vonnegut wrote the following letter to the chairman of the Drake school board.1
1. How would you describe the tone of Vonnegut's letter to Charles McCarthy (angry? respectful? sarcastic? a little of each? something else?) What is noteworthy about the tone of the letter, and do you think it is rhetorically effective (think about the three appeals)?
2. What do you consider to be the most important point that Vonnegut makes in this letter? That is, what is his thesis? [Hint: in this case, it does not appear in the first paragraph of the letter]. How convincingly does it come across?
3. How does Vonnegut appeal to ethos, pathos, and logos in this letter? Give at least one example of each and explain.
4. Imagine that you are a member of a junior high school's book-selection committee. Would you vote to ban Vonnegut's book on the basis of the sentence he quotes from it? Why or Why not?