A Study of Earthly and Ethereal Oscillations in Happy Birthday Wanda June by Kurt Vonnegut

Aasma Iram, Hurriya Zahra

Abstract

Discourse analysis is a broad term for the study of the ways in which language is used by people, both in written texts and spoken contexts. It is "the study of real language use, by real speakers in real situations," wrote Teun A. van Dijk in the "Handbook of Discourse Analysis, Vol. 4 (2001)." This study expounds upon the “Discourse Analysis of earthly and ethereal oscillations in Happy Birthday Wanda June by Kurt Vonnegut.”. This study is significant because it explores how the exposition of temporal distortions in Vonnegut’s play (1971) offers a panoramic view of life against the non-linear structure of the play. It also reveals why the impacts of socio-political and historic-religious figures on the fabrication of vice/virtue relationships among the human race are important to focus on in this research. It explores the ordeals that thwart the afterlife notions on the principle of poetic justice. The purpose of this study is to explore (I) the dichotomy between the playful life of Iscariot, Hitler, and other minor characters in heaven, and (II) the victimized existence of Penelope on earth due to the sudden resurrection of her husband (Harold Ryan) after eight years from the rainforests of Amazon. Discourse Analysis has been applied as a research tool. The conceptual framework of James Paul Gee’s (1999) “six buildings tasks” (pg:104) have been used, which helped us to evaluate the language used by the author to build up his narrative. Basing on Gee’s theory this study finds the absolute connectedness of the mortal characters bracketed by futile frustrations and the immortals waiting upon more menace to radically ravish them for their sports. This paper has further implications for future researchers to analyze other literary texts by Kurt Vonnegut to unveil various aspects of geospatial distinctions by applying the post-modern theories.