Essay Comparing Slaughterhouse-Five And The Space Between Us

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In every book or novel, the environment the characters are placed in, are essential to the overall story. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut and The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar do not fail to meet this expectation. The characteristics the authors gave to their setting reflect both the characters and the plot of the novels.
Slaughterhouse-Five is a work of literary fiction by Kurt Vonnegut in 1969. This book is a satirical novel about World War II events and travels through time of Billy Pilgrim, from his period as an American soldier and minister’s assistant, to postwar and early years. Billy Pilgrim is “…six feet and three inches tall…” (Slaughterhouse-Five 32-33). He is a fatalistic optometrist hidden in a safe, but dull marriage …show more content…

Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five reveals people who become subjected to a controlling system of cybernetics that conveys out its power through war and time. The cybernetic system creates a dystopian society and degrades humans into submissive robots. The narrator’s tone is ironic and familiar, and he exposes traces of absurdity and dark humor that do not reduce the emotional and poetic power of the information. Vonnegut uses foreshadowing by summarizing all the events of Billy’s life before going on with the …show more content…

The protagonists undergo similar experiences in their lives: enduring "disappointment and shame ", abuse from husbands they loved, anticipating the successes of their children to bring them happiness, and consoling each other through their bond. Both the Serabi and Bhima are perceptible with this quote, “… if I am not a mother, then I am nothing…” (Umrigar). The Space Between Us reveals how the lives of the rich and poor are naturally connected yet vastly detached from each other, and how the strong bonds of womanhood are forever opposed by the divisions of class and

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