The thrust of Vonnegut's fiction has moved from detached, ironic observation to impassioned participation. His early works, Player Piano and The Sirens of Titan, were concerned with the external environment—the dangers of technology and the glorification of the machine. He also evinced a marked concern with the relationship between destiny and fate, but the detached tone of his novels made it difficult to penetrate the layers of ambivalence. In Mother Night, Vonnegut began to concern himself more with the internal state of consciousness and with the problem of schizophrenia, as well as with the epistomological question of what can be perceived as real and what is simply illusory. Cat's Cradle and God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater express Vonnegut's feelings about institutionalized religion, about the destructive nature of a social system that values money much more highly than love, and about the loneliness of the thousands of unloved that Eliot Rosewater wants to help but cannot without destroying himself. In Slaughterhouse-Five and in Breakfast of Champions, Vonnegut began to speak much more confidently with his own voice about himself and his views of society; and he culminated Breakfast of Champions by cutting his ties to Kilgore Trout, his erstwhile spokesman. Perhaps Vonnegut had outgrown his idealistic and very naïve alter ego.

Explicit in both Breakfast of Champions and Slapstick is Vonnegut's search for a philosophy of life that would explain its cruelties and injustices—for some code that would make life meaningful and understandable…. With the possible exception of Kilgore Trout, none of Vonnegut's characters are successful; in fact, the effort to create a harmonious world destroys Paul Proteus (Player Piano) and Howard W. Campbell, Jr. (Mother Night); and the attempt drives Bokonon (Cat's Cradle) and Eliot Rosewater (God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater) insane.

While Vonnegut's protagonists strive to create an harmonious world filled with love, the price they pay is their loss of any personal happiness and their abrogation of any love relationship with their spouses…. [The] choice of Vonnegut's fictional characters is always the greater good for all humanity rather than personal happiness.

Inevitably, despite the best efforts of Vonnegut protagonists who "bargain in good faith with their destinies," the world is destroyed or is so unpleasant that destruction would be a relief. Usually lurking behind the destruction is Vonnegut's favorite target—unbridled technology that is divorced from any concern for Humanistic values. (p. 114-16)

The strong eschatological thread that runs through all of Vonnegut's fiction seems to be linked closely to his continued preoccupation over the question of man's ability to control his own destiny. Skeptical of institutionalized religion, Vonnegut has long pondered whether life has any intrinsic meaning or is simply haphazard. This question is the more fundamental one behind Vonnegut's consideration of the fire-bombing of Dresden in Slaughterhouse-Five, of the lack of American culture in Breakfast of Champions, and of the loss of his sister in Slapstick. The autobiography he writes in Slapstick is simply his acceptance of the impossibility of ever discovering life's inherent meaning and his realization that the key to humanity's survival and happiness is its embracement of life with the good natured earnestness and sincerity of Laurel and Hardy. In cinematic terms such as those Vonnegut uses in Slapstick, man is part of a Laurel and Hardy comedy and is not detached enough to see the entire film; he can only play one scene at a time, bargain good naturedly with his destiny, and be aware that he is not good at life and will often fail. (pp. 116-17)