Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five

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Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut is a well known American author. Most of his pieces of writing were written in the 1950s, 1960s and in the early 1970s. Vonnegut writes a lot from personal experiences and in most of his books he references his experiences. He is well known for, but not limited to, his famous novels. He also has a handful of well known short stories. One of his biggest, most famous books that he wrote is titled Slaughterhouse Five. Kurt Vonnegut’s style uses many techniques to develop the concept of theme in his novels. He does a great job of helping his readers understand and feel the mood of his stories while they are reading his pieces of writing.
1.Background of Author
As stated in the introduction, Kurt Vonnegut was an American …show more content…

It is specifically about the events that occured in Dresden during world war 2. The book switches back and forth between time periods as the main character, Billy Pilgrim, has flashbacks and memories of the war experiences he was involved in. “The central and unifying event in the novel is the firebombing and complete destruction of Dresden during World War II” (Trent Lorcher). The main focus of the novel is how the bombing of the city completely destroyed it. It tells of how lives were made hell for the families that survived. “Their wood had been consumed, and their stones had crashed down, had tumbled against one another until they locked at last in low and graceful curves. "It was like the moon," said Billy Pilgrim” (Vonnegut 179). Billy Pilgrim describes his experience in Dresden as a unique one. The readers of the book can understand by reading the destruction that went on. "The nicest veterans in Schenectady, I thought, the kindest and funniest ones, the ones who hated war the most, were the ones who'd really fought." (Vonnegut). The book shows the evilness that is displayed in war. The ones who hate war the most are the ones who have been a part of one. Vonnegut uses his fictional character Billy Pilgrim to expose that to his readers. Throughout the book as Billy tells of the war, the more he tells the worse it seems. His life struggles post war, though fictional, are used to represent reality of many soldiers. ” "Poo-tee-weet" - The indecipherable response to the destruction of Dresden symbolizes Vonnegut's claim that nothing sensible can be said about a massacre” (Trent Lorcher). The phrase “poo-tee-weet” are the last words in the novel. The phrase itself sums up Vonnegut’s message he was trying to get through to his readers. Mass killings of soldiers and civilians can not be justified. It does not make sense to have that much destruction and can never be

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