Slaughterhouse Five Themes

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Kurt Vonnegut’s anti-war novel, Slaughterhouse Five, illustrates the ghastly experiences within World War II and the journey through the universe and time of the main character, Billy Pilgrim. Although war is a sensitive subject in most cases, Vonnegut’s sarcastic twist mixed with his dark humor on the matter helps bring light to the fact that war is horrendous and can change people down to their core self. Slaughterhouse Five demonstrates the reality of war throughout its major themes, historical accuracy, and Kurt Vonnegut’s personal experiences within World War II that shines light on the horrendous acts of war that has plagued an abundant amount of countries for centuries.
The themes of a novel can be defined as the fundamental ideas …show more content…

When Pilgrim emerges from the depths of the slaughterhouse, the city 's destruction becomes apparent to him. After becoming aware of the tragic events that had taken place and coming across the bodies of people who met their doom, the effects of PTSD were slowly being made known to Pilgrim. PTSD is a mental health condition that is triggered by one experiencing or witnessing a horrible event - which explains how one could experience this after being in war. ("Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)."). PTSD is not only a theme within Slaughterhouse Five, but also within many people 's lives who have been a part of war. This shows how PTSD is an international issue as it affects many different people and is a symptom of the disease of war. Vonnegut demonstrates how deep the effects of PTSD can set in within soldiers by showing how the main character within Slaughterhouse Five reacts to PTSD. In the novel, Pilgrim believes he has been abducted by an alien race known as the Tralfamadorians due to his extreme PTSD. During his encounter with the alien race, Pilgrim believes he was given the ability to time travel. Within many of his time traveling journeys, Pilgrim would revisit events that had happened

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