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Ryan Emmert
WRT 312 Professor Waddell
28 November 2015
Breakfast of Champions Analyses
Kurt Vonneguts novel Breakfast of Champions explores the lives of two very different
men: Kilgore Trout, an unknown novelist, whose books are only sold in pornography stores
across the nation, and Dwayne Hoover, a car dealer on the verge of insanity who one day
presumes Trouts outrageous fiction to actually be the truth. Furthermore, throughout the novel,
Vonnegut intertwines himself and many other characters to slowly guide these two protagonists
together, forcing their interaction. Overall, the novel speaks out against numerous aspects of
American culture that many acknowledge exist, but do not fully understand or criticize.
Throughout Trout and Hoovers explorations, Vonneguts black humor, satire, and absurdity
holistically recognize these aspects of American culture, and denounce them outright.
It starts with Kilgore Trout receiving an invitation to the Midland City Arts Festival,
which seemed to contradict his own perception of himself. He thought he had no fame, but the
invitation seemed to praise him as if he were some established writer. After some deliberation he
decides to attend, especially considering the money that he had been sent in the mail along with
his invitation. First, however, Trout heads to New York to buy some of his books for the festival,
and see a film. Upon leaving the theatre in New York, he is followed and eventually jumped and
beaten by The Pluto Gang. All of his money is stolen, and he is forced to hitch rides all the
way to midland city; first, with a truck driver who discusses everything from sex to the end of

the world, then, with a travelling salesmen who openly expresses his self-satisfaction with Trout
emphasizing his average of twenty-two orgasms per month.
While Trout slowly makes his way toward Midland City, the other main character of the
story, Dwayne Hoover, grows more and more insane with each passing day at his job as a car
salesmen. Hoovers relationships with his secretary and other coworkers slowly dwindle as he
keeps irrationally acting out, due to the imbalance of bad chemicals in his brain. Throughout all
of these encounters, a caricature of American culture is crafted in order to emphasize the
differences between Trout and Hoover. They are clearly on opposite ends of the spectrum.
Upon meeting in the cocktail lounge of a Holiday Inn, Trout and Hoover are drawn
toward one another with the help of the narrator, serving as God. Hoover finds Trout to be
intriguing, especially considering his vibrant white shirt which has been washed to glow under a
black-light. Hoover then reads Trouts book, which describes the lives of human beings who are
actually robots, and which informs Hoover that he is in fact the creator of the universe. This, as
expected, sets Hoover off on a violent outrage during which he injures eleven people so badly
that they are sent to the hospital in the Martha Simmons Memorial Mobile Disaster Unit. In the
end, Hoover gains back his sanity again for a moment, and talks with the intern at the hospital
about opening up a health center. The narrator then interjects and informs us that Hoover will do
no such thing; that he will just end up another homeless man after being sued by all of his
victims.
In the epilogue, Trout wanders through and out the hospital to walk down Fairchild
Boulevard. The narrator attempts to meet up with Trout, but is attacked by a dog, eventually
escaping in his car to chase Trout who began to flee the scene. Upon meeting, the narrator and

Trout discuss the book, among other things, before the narrator finally transports back to his own
universe, leaving Trout screaming: Make me young!
Vonnegut makes it apparent in the prologue of the novel that he is writing this book to
clear [his] head of all the junk in there (5). However, all the junk that he claims makes him
uncultured is portrayed in such a way as to satirize the United States and how uncultured it
can be at times. In order to satirize certain aspects of American culture, while still keeping up
with the existential framing of the novel, Vonnegut uses a variety of humor styles.
Predominantly, Vonnegut employs satire through the use of dark humor. One example of dark
humor is introduced on page 87 when Trout is riding with the Pyramid truck driver. The driver
mentions his brothers job, which is in a factory that produces chemicals for killing plants and
trees in Vietnam. The narrator then proceeds in plain diction, Viet Nam was a country where
America was trying to make people stop being communists by dropping things on them from
airplanes. The chemicals he mentioned were intended to kill all the foliage, so it would be harder
for communists to hide from airplanes. The driver then says Seems like the only kind of job an
American can get these days is committing suicide in some way. Vonneguts use of dark humor
here allows him to satirize the cruelties of war, American production, and anti-communist
mentalities.
In other cases, Vonnegut uses both absurdity and ribald humor to satirize other aspects of
American culture that are worthy of criticism. First off, the drawings all throughout the novel
are often absurd and unnecessary given the context of the story. Vonnegut physically draws out
several common things (such as an asshole, a flamingo, a Beatle, a beetle, etc.) as if the reader
doesnt understand what they are. By doing so, Vonnegut promotes equal importance for all
things, by even including obvious silly drawings. This absurd inclusion of photos also pushes

the satire of American culture that Vonnegut is forming. On page 71, Vonnegut mocks addiction
by illustrating that drug-abusers either inject themselves with needles, or through rectal
administration. His drawings of a needle, and an asshole are largely unnecessary, but it suggests
that all things deserve equal weightiness in this world, even the most wretched parts of this
world.
In terms of characterization, Vonnegut also supports his satire of American culture
through a unique set of caricatures placed throughout the novel. In a way, the two main
protagonists of the story both satirize Vonnegut in a way as well, by dichotomizing him and
representing aspects of Vonneguts life. Some examples of this include the suicide of Hoovers
mother, and the occupation of Trout as a science fiction writer. Furthermore, several other
characters represent caricatures that satirize some aspect of American culture worthy of criticism,
such as racism, wealth, sex, and the like. Wayne Hoobler serves as the foil of Dwayne Hoover.
Wayne is a black ex-inmate of the Adult Correctional Institute who has highly contrasting white
teeth that signify him as a parolee. He continually attempts to speak with Dwayne Hoover
hoping to get a job; however, Dwayne constantly denies talking to him until his violent outrage
in which Wayne dodges all of his attacks. This caricature of a young black inmate is used to
satirize the racism of many Americans still today. His apparent status as an ex-prisoner and his
unwavering ability to fight stereotypes him in a way that mocks prejudiced mentalities. From the
inside, Wayne Hoobler comes off as a well-intentioned person who feels like he does not belong
in the world since he is always being jailed and talked to differently.
Rhetorically, Vonnegut structures this novel with extreme consistency and purpose. The
straightforward and often repetitive diction hammers at the theme that all things should be given
equal weightiness and importance in life. The drawings and the way they are introduced also

supports this theme by illustrating things that wouldve been fully comprehendible to begin with.
All of the characters in the story are also perceived to be of equal weight considering the explicit
manner in which Vonnegut describes them. Every male characters penis size is evaluated, as
well as every female characters hip and waist sizes. The narrator is omniscient, and makes a
point to overcompensate in describing with great accuracy the bodies of each character.
This omniscience is pushed to the limit with the narrators interjections of himself
throughout the end of the story. By including himself as a physical character that interacts with
the other characters of the novel, Vonnegut comments on some of the more personal themes of
the novelwhich include mental health, familial relations, existential crises, and old age. The
insanity that Hoover is plagued with reminds us of the narrators existential struggles with
understanding the nature of the universe. The rather self-deprecating, apathetic attitude of Trout
reminds us of the narrators vision of himself, and how his life has turned out. These moments
of personal struggle, self-reflectiveness, and perseverance outline the balance between order and
chaos that Vonnegut mentions near the end of the novel. If all writers would [bring chaos to
order], then perhaps citizens not in the literary trades will understand that there is no order in the
world around us, that we must adapts ourselves to the requirements of chaos instead (215).
Trout and Hoover both characterize the narrators struggle with chaos and bringing it to order. At
times, one can move about life apathetically, as if making no difference toward anything; other
times, one can believe that he/she is the only thing that matters in the universe, driving him/her
toward insanity and emotional instability.
Overall, Vonnegut successfully satirizes many aspects of American culture while still
keeping up with the notions of the universes origin. Throughout a sporadic and unpredictable
plot, Vonnegut creates several caricatures Americans that work by forcing the interaction

between Dwayne Hoover and Kilgore Trout. The journeys of these two men prompt discussions
about sex, racism, politics, war, greed, success, pollution, art, and much more, and Vonnegut
takes advantage of these scenes to satirize the United States as a country where a lot of people
feel so ignored and cheated and insulted that they thought they might be in the wrong country,
or even on the wrong planet, that some terrible mistake had been made (9). These satirical
remarks are further supported by dark, ribald, and absurd humor throughout the novel. As
Vonnegut forms this morbid picture of America, he contrasts it with the colorful mystery of the
creation of the universe. He makes his attempt at bringing chaos to order, and then heads back to
the universe in which he belongs.