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Critics often suggest that Kurt Vonnegut’s novels represent a man’s desperate, yet, futile search for meaning in a senseless existence. Vonnegut’s novel, Slaughterhouse-Five, displays this theme. Kurt Vonnegut uses a narrator, which is different from the main character. He uses this technique for several reasons. Kurt Vonnegut introduces Slaughterhouse Five in the first person. In … Read more
Bombshells exploding all around, destruction everywhere, civilians running for their lives… total devastation. This is exactly what Kurt Vonnegut encountered in the fire-bombing of Dresden during World War Two. Vonnegut bases his novel, Slaughterhouse-five on this event in his life. Several themes can be seen throughout the novel: The theme of war and its contrast … Read more
“In Slaughterhouse Five, — Or the Children’s Crusade, Vonnegut delivers a complete treatise on the World War II bombing of Dresden. The main character, Billy Pilgrim, is a very young infantry scout* who is captured in the Battle of the Bulge and quartered in a Dresden slaughterhouse where he and other prisoners are employed in … Read more
Kurt Vonneguts character Billy Pilgrim, in Slaughterhouse-Five, is an American soldier in Europe in the last year of World War II. What he sees and does during his six months on the battlefield and as a prisoner of war have dominated his life. He comes to terms with the feelings of horror, guilt, and despair … Read more
From Ancient Greek playwright, Euripides, (“To die is a debt we must all of us discharge” (Fitzhenry 122)) to renowned Nineteenth Century poet, Emily Dickinson, (“Because I could not stop for Death/ He kindly stopped for me -/ The carriage held but just ourselves/ And Immortality” (Fitzhenry 126)) the concept of death, reincarnation, rebirth, and … Read more
This first chapter, a preface, is insistent on the fact that the book is based on real events. Vonnegut, like our narrator, is a veteran of World War II, a former prisoner of war, and a witness to a great massacre, and that fact lends a certain authority to what follows. Vonnegut shares with us … Read more
Novel Summary Billy Pilgrim is unstuck in time, and so is Slaughterhouse Five. Novel follows Billy’s \”unhinged\” life. If I write every hop, skip, and jump, the summary would be as complicated as the book. These are the basic facts of Pilgrim’s life; they are shown in chronological order (but are definitely not in the … Read more
Russian Prime Minister Joseph Stalin once said, “A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic. ” The impersonalization of war and death that he shares is an realistic characterization of war; originally intending to improve the lives of people, yet inevitably leading to the destruction of human life. Author Kurt Vonnegut … Read more
Kurt Vonnegut wrote Slaughterhouse Five as well as many other novels. Slaughterhouse Five is the story of Billy Pilgrim. Pilgrim is a time traveling war veteran who is “unstuck” in time. The entire novel is a journey through this universe. He visits strange planets and the bombing of Dresden in Germany. Human cruelty is the … Read more
If this paper were going to be written like Slaughterhouse- Five, there would be two narratives, one personal, one impersonal. The structure would also be similar to Tralfamadorian books and Slaughterhouse- Five. I would present no beginning, no middle, and no end. In the words of Kurt Vonnegut, “There isn’t any particular relationship between all … Read more