Analysis Of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five

Through the sophistication of language, the use of metafictional structure, and non-linear chronology in literature, individuals can effectively critique war and its glorification exemplified by the devastating effect and psychological trauma, as well as the nihilistic outlook towards life stemming from the inevitability of war. Kurt Vonnegut throughout his metanarrative “Slaughterhouse-Five” embeds his harsh critique of war and its glorification within recounts of his past experiences and anecdotes of the bombing of Dresden, traveling through the non-linear chronology of the text evoking traumatic experiences and psychologically burdening memories as a prisoner of war detained in Dresden. Kurt’s incomplete nihilistic caricature, Billy Pilgrim,

In Chapter 1 “If the accident will”, Kurt encapsulates a deeper emblematic meaning highlighting the resignation to fate as he realizes the superior control which dictates his life as a PoW. This is the first implicit satirical critique of militarism and war arising from the ideology of hyper-pro-war prevalent throughout 1900s American culture, in which an individual’s autonomy and control are seized by the grand overarching government, thus why he “likes it very much”. Kurt further criticizes the delusional and closed-mindset pro-war American population outlined in “Not many Americans knew how much worse it had been than Hiroshima, for instance. I didn't know that either. There hadn't been much publicity.”, employing irony and antithetical paradox highlights the glorification of war only according to the degree of control, hence “There hadn't been much publicity” during the bombing of Dresden. The employment of irony and juxtaposition further deepens Kurt’s reflection on the American’s exaggerated attitude towards war, as he shares his cynical and pragmatic view of American culture. Kurt reinforces his critique of the American hegemonic and delusional attitude through “United World Federalists”, ultimately ridiculing the

Initially, through Chapter 2, the introduction of a traumatized and psychologically fragmented Billy Pilgrim who’s “spastic in time”, is illustrated as a discharged soldier becoming an affluent optometrist, and eventually a soldier once again in the American regiment. Coinciding with the metafictional construction of non-linear chronology, Billy is lost in time as he traverses through the last traumatic memories of his life, exemplified by “While Billy was recuperating in a hospital in Vermont, his wife died accidentally of carbon-monoxide poisoning. So it goes”, which additionally emphasizes Billy resignation to fate paralleling with Kurt through the anaphora “So it goes”, highlighting the control of civilians as puppets by political elites. Billy’s physical and psychological torment after the senseless bombing is later illustrated through the metaphor “bristly beard, and some of the bristles were white, even though Billy was only twenty-one years old” providing vivid imagery of the dehumanizing aftermath of the war, exemplifying Kurt’s critique of the glorified war on a substantially greater scale. This metaphoric vivid imagery of Billy is additionally underscored by “filthy flamingo” outlining Billy’s delipidated appearance consequent of the Dresden