Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr Essay - 1391 Words

Slaughterhouse-Five: Why War Should Never Happen Kurt Vonnegut Jr., a World War II veteran and author of the literary masterpiece Slaughterhouse-Five, was one of the many there to witness the destruction of the city of Dresden located in Germany, and one of the few to survive to tell the gruesome details. Most of his writing was used to encourage those with anti-war mindsets to take a stand, and to inform everyone else of the damage that is done when a nation goes to war. He uses his books to remind people that war is gruesome, gory, and violent, and the glamorous aspect of it is simply a disturbed part of one’s imagination that truly does not exist. He reminds people of the visceral hatred that comes with the package of war; of how†¦show more content†¦Vonnegut writes: Listen: Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time. Billy has gone to sleep a senile widower and awakened on his wedding day. He has walked through a door in 1955 and come out another one in 1941. He has g one back through that door to find himself in 1963. He has seen his birth and death many times, he says, and pays random visits to all the events in between. (29) As stated above, the time travel aspect of this novel is simply a metaphor of how Billy Pilgrim is struggling with letting go of his past and the above quote demonstrates this completely. Vonnegut writes that Billy walks through one door in 1955 and comes out another one in 1941 and that he visits random moments of his life. Billy visiting random little moments of his life could just be a sign that, because the war affected him so strongly, that he is having trouble letting go. The next quote where Vonnegut addresses the after effects of war is, â€Å"Billy is spastic in time, has no control over where he is going next and the trips aren’t necessarily fun† (29). In this quote, Vonnegut refers to the time traveling as â€Å"trips† that Billy goes on that may not necessarily be fun. This could be symboli c of a veteran who was traumatized during the war and is now struggling with a mental illness calledShow MoreRelated Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr898 Words   |  4 Pages In the book Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr, Billy Pilgrim is the main character, the protagonist of the novel. The novel is focused on the four sides of Billy. The first being his life as a WWII soldier. The second, his present, which is a very boring life as a husband, father, and optometrist in Ilium, New York. The third is his time travels from past to future, and the fourth is his life as a prisoner on the planet Trafalmadore. 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