lcohol. Some one found and saved him, and he has a casual attitude toward his attempt: "'If I do myself in sometime, and I might, it will be because of my mother's example,' he adds in his usual tone of slight bemusement. 'If I ever get really pissed off, screw it all'" (Streitfeld, C14). This attitude appears in the character of Fred Rosewater in God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. Fred's father was a suicide, and Fred has the same indifferent perspective on suicide as Vonnegut. In describing Fred's situation, the novel states, "Sons of suicides seldom do well. They find life lacking a certain zing. . . they suspect that they, too, will probably kill themselves" (Vonnegut, Rosewater, 103). He even begins to hang himself, but embarrassedly stops before being discovered. Fred Rosewater's entire attitude toward suicide is an expression of Vonnegut's own attitude. Places from Vonnegut's life also appear in his works. He was born and grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana. He attended college at Cornell University. At one point in his life, he worked in Schenectady, New York, and at another he lived on Cape Cod (Wakeman, 1494). In Cat's Cradle, all of these locations are used. The narrator himself is from Indiana, and meets another Hoosier, who makes an especially big deal about the number of important Hoosiers. The scientist who invented ice-nine was living on Cape Cod when he died. The narrator corresponds with a student from Cornell, and makes a trip to Ilium, NY, a fictitious city based on Schenectady (Vonnegut, Cradle, 66, 82, 14, 23). In God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, one of the main settings of the story is Rosewater County, Indiana. The people in this once great county are impoverished and for the most part feel worthless. Eliot Rosewater leaves New York City behind to focus his attention on these Hoosiers, and when his mind snaps, he ends up in Indianapolis (Vonnegut, Rosewater). Vonnegut makes use of significant places from his life in both of...
