Fate

Above all other themes, Vonnegut as writer is fascinated by the theme of Fate, and how it plays its invisible but heavy hand in the affairs of mankind. Throughout Hocus Pocus, Eugene constantly shifts back and forth in his life's story, always looking for the common thread that unites the many different experiences and feelings he has had. The only unifying or underlying sense he can gleam from his rumination is that Fate is behind much of what has happened to him, and that because he cannot alter it, he has basically been a powerless pawn in many aspects even in his own life's choices.

Vonnegut wants the reader to feel this unease and perhaps reflect back on the reader's own life, as well. How often has the reader wondered how different life might have turned out because of a missed airplane that later crashed, Vonnegut seems to...