The Tragedy of Paul Proteus as revealed through his conflicts in Kurt Vonnegut's player piano

Yusuf, Nengsi (1997) The Tragedy of Paul Proteus as revealed through his conflicts in Kurt Vonnegut's player piano. Bachelor thesis, Petra Christian University.

Abstract

This thesis is a study of the main character's tragedy as revealed through his conflicts in Kurt Vonnegut?s Player Piano. And the writer wants to analyze his conflicts since she thinks that they are the source of his tragedy, considering that he loses his wife, his wealth and also his position because of those conflicts. Through this study, the writer wants to find out the reasons for Paul Proteus tragic life. By using library research, close reading, and literary approach, she finds out that actually his desire to rebel is caused by his conflict with some people, in which it contains his important motivation First, he involves in umflict with the government because of the clash of ideas between them and also because of his moral responsibility. Second, he is conflict with his father that is caused by his desire to search for his self-identity. Third, he gets involve in conflict with Doctor Lawson Shepherd since he tries hard to sabotage Protew and also because of his affair with Proteus? wife, Anita. Last, he is in conflict with his own tie, Anita because of her lie, the clash of idea between them, and her affair with Shepherd. All these conflicts make him decide to rebel, which finally leads to his tragic life.

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