MEANING IN MEANINGLESSNESS: ABSURDISM IN THE NOVELS OF KURT VONNEGUT

This study is qualitative in nature that employs content analysis. The study analyzed the two (2) novels of Kurt Vonnegut, namely God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater or Pearls Before Swine and Slaughterhouse-Five or The Children's Crusade. Using the Formalistic Approach and Psychological Approach, this study discussed the characters' experience with the Absurd and their attitude towards it. Moreover, the characters' psyche is reflective of the author's psyche. Through Albert Camus' tenets in addressing the Absurd, the characters' experiences and struggles help find out whether they have met the ultimate and ideal conclusion of Absurdism, which is freedom.
Moreover, the method of Psychobiography was to determine the connection of the character's psyche to the author's psyche. The results showed that the main characters in the novels, Elliot Rosewater in God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater or Pearls Before Swine, and Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse-Five or The Children's Crusade, experienced the Absurd due to their childhood and war experiences that inflicted too much anxiety and trauma on them. Because of these experiences instinctively utilized defense mechanisms that determined whether they had attained the freedom and meaning amidst absurd occurrences. These psychological struggles of the characters were reflective of Kurt Vonnegut's psyche as he dealt with the Absurd.