Assignment B – ”Happy birthday, 1951”

1. Summary of ”Happy Birthday, 1951”
“Happy Birthday, 1951”, is a short story written by Kurt Vonnegut, 2008, which begins in media res. The story is about a young boy and an old man, who is not the father of the boy. The boy was given to him as a baby, by a refugee woman. They have lived in the ruins, for 7 years, after a war and have survived by collecting things they could find or steal. One day soldiers find them and order some documents filled out. For this he needs the boy’s unknown birthdate. The boy selects a day, and becomes entitled to have a birthday and presents. The man makes a present, a cart, for the boy, but also gives him a day away from the war. The boy likes his cart, which he calls a tank. The day away from the war becomes a day to a place the boy never has been before. At the trip he sees some soldiers and a tank witch the man does not like.
2. Characterize the boy and the old man
There is not mentioned much about the two characters, we do not know their age, nationality, names or birthdays. What we know is they live by themselves, poor, in the ruins after a war. “… the old man and the boy had lived in the ruins for seven years without documents …” (l. 10-11). They survive on things they steal or dig out of the cellars of the ruins. “But the old man and the boy had found all three for the digging in the catacombs of cellars beneath the shattered city, for the filching at night.” (l. 12-14).
The boy is around 7 years old, no real parents, as he was given to the old man by a refugee mother. “He told them how, on the day the war ended, a refugee woman had left a baby in his arms and never returned.” (l. 26-27). And therefore the old man became his father and role model. The boy is brave and without concerns of his daily life and is not frightened by the soldiers. “They don’t frighten me, said the boy.” (l. 17), “Four young soldiers came down the sidewalk abreast. The old man stepped into the street, out of their way. The boy saluted, and held his ground. The soldiers smiled, returned his salute, and parted their ranks to let him pass.” (l. 77-79). In fact the soldiers and their equipment interests the boy. “Armored infantry, said the boy …” (l. 80), “Black and red is the engineers, interrupted the boy seriously. Plain black is the military police, and red is the artillery, and blue and red is the medical corps, and black and orange is …” (l. 88-90). Exploring the unknown nature does not interest the boy much. “Here? said the boy.” (l. 96), “No – just a little farther” (l. 97) “All right, said the boy. I like this place, but all right.”
The old man is probably a local and has grown up in the area or in the city, as he knows the city and area so well. “I’d like to take you where you’ve never been in all your life – where I haven’t been for years.” (l. 48-49). (”He pointed. There – see through there? We can see the church from here.” (l. 97-98). He is anxious and afraid of the war which he has probably been witnessing for many years. He is afraid of the soldiers and does not like items from the war, things as tanks and the soldiers’ braids and even their marching. “Because I’m old. Because soldiers frighten old men.” (l. 16), “…the tank. The ugly relic gaped at him balefully …” (l. 148), “The boy: … Can I take my tank? – If you’ll let it be a truck, just for today.” (l. 68-69), “The boy; Didn’t you see the green braid? – Yes, but those things change. (…) He cut the sentence short. It’s all nonsense, he said, almost sharply. It’s all meaningless,” (l. 83-84-85-86). “Listen! Said the boy. – As at every sunset, (…) the sound of marching. Don’t listen, said the old man.” (l. 42-43-44). The old man highly respects the documents, the soldiers order him to fill out. “No document could be complete without a birthdate, (…), one had to be chosen.” (l. 3-4). He does not like the boy’s fascination of elements from the war and would like to show him there is a different and better world. “Armored infantry, said the boy to the old man. – Hmmmm? Said the old man” (l. 80-81), “The boy; Didn’t you see the green braid? – Yes, but those things change. (…) He cut the sentence short. It’s all nonsense, he said, almost sharply.” (l. 83-84-85-86), “I’d like to take you where you’ve never been in all your life – where I haven’t been for years.” (l. 48-49). ”Tomorrow I’ll take you away from war.” (l. 50), “Remember what I promised? We’ll get away from war today. We’ll go to the woods.” (l. 66-67). A world the old man remembers from before the war, but a world the boy does not know at all. The boy plays with the cart when the old man says; “That’s a nice truck you’ve got there, Mister, (…). Bringing animals to the market, are you? – Brummmaaaa, brummmaaaa. Out of my way! Brummmaa. Out of the way of my tank.” (l. 57-58-59-60) This world, without the cruel war, the old man would like to share with the boy, to become a better father to him. “ I haven’t been a very good father, letting you go without birthdays this long, he said. You’re entitled to one every year, you know, and I’ve let six years go by without a birthday. And presents, too. You’re supposed to get presents.” (l. 30-31-32-33), “You know what I’d like to do tomorrow? I’d like to take you where you’ve never been in all your life – where I haven’t been for years.” (l. 47-48-49), “The best is yet to come. (…) We’ll go to the woods.” (l. 63-64-65-66-67).
3. Comment on the ending
The last 14 lines of the short story it is obvious there have been a change in the two main characters condition. The old man perhaps feels more like the father of the boy, after telling the soldiers have been given the boy and filling out the documents, perhaps as himself as the father of the boy. After the trip to the woods and after they have slept, the old man awakes, he discovers that the boy is missing, first he calls unconcernedly at the boy but when getting no answer he begins shout out loud, imagining the boy has gone even further in to the woods. Here I feel the old man is getting catastrophic thoughts, he imagines the boy has gone to the tank and has in that case crossed the stream without being able to swim. The man hurries to the tank but sees no sign of the boy. He only hears the sound of the wind and the stream. I get the impression that the man fears that the boy is either dead or in great danger.
The boy’s triumphantly, ”Gotcha!” I think could have more than one meaning. Obviously it could just be a boy’s game getting the old man into an ambush and pretending to shoot him. But in a deeper sense it could also mean that the old man is brought to recognize his father feelings, as well as the boy seeing the old man as his father.