Opposing Viewpoints in Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five
The Allied firebombing of Dresden has been called the worst and most unnecessary air raid in military history. The German city was home to no military bases or stations, but on February 13, 1945, death rained down from the air on nearly 135,000 people, most of them civilians, compared to the 74,000 deaths caused by the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima (Novels 270). Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was a Allied prisoner of war during this raid, hidden underground in an abandoned slaughterhouse. After surviving the war, Vonnegut came home to the United States to become an author. Though he had published several books before Slaughterhouse Five, this book became his most famous and best-selling book. Slaughterhouse Five was Vonnegut's breakthrough work because he finally addressed the most distressing and pivotal point in his life, the Dresden firebombing (Novels 270).
Vonnegut writes in the first chapter that he was once given advice against writing an anti-war novel, because "...there would always be wars, [and] that they were as easy to stop as glaciers" (Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse 3). However, rather than writing an anti-war novel, Vonnegut writes a response to the tragedy of war through the eyes of a soldier (Novels 272). Vonnegut narrates the story of Billy Pilgrim, a soldier who went through the same experiences as Vonnegut did. Narrating the story of someone else allows Vonnegut distance and separation from the painful events at Dresden (Harris). Through Billy's story, Vonnegut introduces opposing ideas throughout his novel, creating tension between conflicting forces and philosophies. The opposing ideas in Slaughterhouse Five are differing views of time, and inco...
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...s, it is the one that states war is stupid, pointless, and cruel, yet it is inevitable.
Works Cited
Harris, Charles B., "Time, Uncertainty, and Kurt Vonnegut Jr.: A Reading of 'Slaughterhouse Five,'" Farmington Hills: Gale Group. October, 2001. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/DC/
Reed, Peter J., "Authenticity and Relevance: Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five," Farmington Hills: Gale Group. October, 2001. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/DC/
Schatt, Stanley, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Farmington Hills: Gale Group. October, 2001. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/DC/
"Slaughterhouse Five" Novels For Students. Vol. 3 1998 ed.
Vonnegut Jr., Kurt. Fates Worse Than Death. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1991
---, Palm Sunday. New York: Delacorte Press, 1981
---, Slaughterhouse Five. New York: Dell Publishing, 1969
a prisoner of war (POW) in Dresden, Germany. During that time he experienced the firebombing of Dresden, which affected him greatly. This event had around 135,000. casualties, which is about twice the number killed in Hiroshima by the atomic bomb (1969 Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse (Five) -.. Many claim that his involvement in the war is what made him write Slaughterhouse Five.
One can only imagine the intense emotional scarring that one would suffer after exiting an underground shelter with a dozen other men to find a city destroyed and its people dead, corpses laying all around. These feelings are what prompted Kurt Vonnegut to write Slaughterhouse-Five as he did. The main character of this novel mirrors the author in many ways, but the striking similarity is their inability to deal with the events of Dresden on the night of February 13, 1945. Section Two- Critical Commentaries Kurt Vonnegut's work is nothing new to critics, but Slaughterhouse-Five is considered to be his best work.
Meeter, Glenn. "Vonnegut's Formal and Moral Otherworldliness: Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse-Five," in Jerome Klinkowitz & John Somer (eds.), The Vonnegut Statement. USA: Delacourte Press/ Seymour Lawrence, 1973, 204-220.
In the novel Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, he talks about World War II and the bombing of Dresden. He writes about this historical event through the character Billy Pilgrim, Billy is drafted into the army at age twenty-one during World War II. He is captured and sent to Luxembourg and then later Dresden as a prisoner. Throughout the novel, Vonnegut constantly ridiculous Billy. He describes Billy as a character that has no individualism and no choice in anything that happens in his life.
Wars have been around for centuries. A typical battle was fought on land. The infantry would line up and fire at the advancing enemy. World War I was first called "the Great War" because of the number of lives lost (Coetzee 11). There were approximately nine million deaths over the course of the four years the war lasted (11). World War I began because of the assassination of "Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne" (17). Tensions were high and war seemed the only solution (17). The alliances in Europe were well formed by the time 1914 arrived (17). "The Central Powers" were "Germany and Austria-Hungary" (Westwell 8). "The Triple Entente" were "Britain, France, and Russia" (8). All of the countries and citizens believed in the cause of the war from the very beginning (9). That enthusiasm would quickly change once the introduction of new weapons and strategies were revealed (9). Every country involved was seeking ways to improve on the resources they needed to fight, and hopefully win the war. None of the countries involved wanted the other side to have a military advantage over the other (7). World War I had technological inventions such as machine guns, poison gas, tanks and submarines, which changed the strategy of war. The outcome of these inventions resulted in more death and destruction than previous wars.
Many new and improved weapons and artillery were brought out during the war. One example of this introduction of new weapons was the long-range rocket. Also during this time the atomic bomb proved to have a big impact on the war. Along with these new and improved weapons, falls the infamous tanks of World War II (Military History 1). Although some weapons proved to be more important than others, every weapon played an important role in fighting this war. Some of these smaller weapons include pistols and rifles.
World War I, otherwise known as the Great War, began as a small battle that eventually developed into a prodigious uproar between several countries. An event that could have perhaps been avoided and prevented unnecessary deaths. WWI’s beginnings are controversial and historians throughout the world have several theories about the destructive event. Said to be one of the most disastrous and ruinous struggles between nations, The Great War lasted from July 1914 until November 1918. Referred to as a World War because of the global participation and the international unsettle; this war was exacerbated by 7 million casualties. World War I was primarily concerned with the struggle for mastery in Europe, but it was a global conflict that reached across five oceans and three continents. (Wilmott, 1) World War I introduced modern technologies including weaponry and nuclear machinery from opposing forces known as Central Powers against the Allied powers.
World War I, also known as the Great War was one of the most revolutionary wars in modern history. The war started in 1914 and ended in 1919 and included many advancements such as tanks and mustard gas. The Great War was one of the most deadly and gruesome wars ever. There were many different pivotal things that led to the breakout of war in Europe and eventually the world. One could see alliances escalating the the amount of countries in the war, an extreme amount of nationalism, and tensions over colonies and technological advances. All of these ultimately led to commencement of World War I.
For a novel to be considered a Great American Novel, it must contain a theme that is uniquely American, a hero that is the essence of a great American, or relevance to the American people. Others argue, however, that the Great American Novel may never exist. They say that America and her image are constantly changing and therefore, there will never be a novel that can represent the country in its entirety. In his novel, Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut writes about war and its destructiveness. Vonnegut tells the story of Billy Pilgrim, an unlikely hero, mentally scarred by World War Two. Kurt Vonnegut explains how war is so devastating it can ruin a person forever. These are topics that are reoccurring in American history and have a relevance to the American people thus making Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five a Great American Novel.
Narrative therapy was introduced to the family therapy field in the late 1980’s by therapists Michael White and David Epston (Matos et al. 2009, p.89). A philosophy of narrative therapy is that everyone has a story to tell which is bound by the socially constructed knowledge within their cultural setting, and this story can be better interpreted by contextualising it according to the individual’s language, social, political and cultural situation (Combs & Freedman 2012, p.1036; Etchison & Kleist 2000, p.61; Fernandez 2010, p.16). The narrative is then reduced to the theme which is determined as a problematic element within the story, and perceived internally as a dominating power (Mascher 2...
Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse-Five, uses the biblical allusion of Lot’s wife looking back on the destroyed cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to parallel the story of Billy Pilgrim during the war and his experience after, when he returns to the United States. Although the reference is brief, it has profound implications to the portrayal of America during World War II, especially the bombing of Dresden. Although Lot’s wife’s action dooms her to turn into a pillar of salt, the narrator emphasizes her choice to indicate the importance of being compassionate and having hindsight. Ultimately, Slaughterhouse-Five critiques the American social attitude to disregard the unjust nature of its actions in World War II. Furthermore, Vonnegut’s novel explicates this by elucidating the horrors of war—especially in regard to the massacre of innocence, how it leaves the soldiers stagnant when they return home, and leaves them empty with an American Dream that cannot be fulfilled. In order to combat violence, the novel stresses that one must hold human life to a higher value and be compassionate towards others; America must acknowledge its mistakes so that the soldiers who fought and died for her so that the soldiers may move on.
This independent reading assignment is dedicated to Slaughterhouse-Five, written by Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut experienced many hardships during and as a result of his time in the military, including World War II, which he portrays through the protagonist of Slaughterhouse-Five, Billy Pilgrim. Slaughterhouse-Five, however, not only introduces these military experiences and the internal conflicts that follow, but also alters the chronological sequence in which they occur. Billy is an optometry student that gets drafted into the military and sent to Luxembourg to fight in the Battle of Bulge against Germany. Though he remains unscathed, he is now mentally unstable and becomes “unstuck in time” (Vonnegut 30). This means that he is able to perceive
Slaughterhouse Five, written by Kurt Vonnegut is an anti war novel told by the narrator who is a minor character in the story. Slaughterhouse-Five is the story of Billy Pilgrim, a man who has come "unstuck in time. "The bombing of Dresden is what destroyed Billy. Dresden’s destruction shows the destruction of people who fought in the war: the all the people who died. Some people, like the main character, Billy Pilgrim, are not able to function normally like before because of what they saw, because of their experience. Throughout the book, Billy starts hallucinating about his experiences with the Tralfamadorians: he wants to escape the world which was destroyed by war, a war that he does not and cannot understand. Vonnegut uses the technique of repetition.. The main repetition is “so it goes” which is told after anything related to death, he also uses other repetitions throughout the book. The major theme of the story is the Destructiveness of War. Vonnegut uses repetition to reinforce the theme of the story.
Throughout his career, Kurt Vonnegut has used writing as a tool to convey penetrating messages and ominous warnings about our society. He skillfully combines vivid imagery with a distinctly satirical and anecdotal style to explore complex issues such as religion and war. Two of his most well known, and most gripping, novels that embody this subtle talent are Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse-Five. Both books represent Vonnegut’s genius for manipulating fiction to reveal glaring, disturbing and occasionally redemptive truths about human nature. On the surface, Cat’s Cradle and Slaughterhouse-Five are dramatically different novels, each with its own characters, symbols, and plot. However, a close examination reveals that both contain common themes and ideas. Examining and comparing the two novels and their presentation of different themes provides a unique insight into both the novels and the author – allowing the reader to gain a fuller understanding of Vonnegut’s true meaning.
The First World War greatly impacted the world negatively especially upon the soldiers who witnessed horrible scenes which cannot be explained. Its effect is felt up to today. Various deadly weapons used during this period like bombs continue to be recovered in all over the world. These weapons still pose a challenge to the world a century after they were manufactured.