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Dresden In Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five

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The setting plays a powerful and constant reminder to the reader of the consequences of the human condition. Slaughterhouse Five, taking place around WWII involves many places, one main one being Dresden. It is seen by many as one of the greatest man made disasters in history and was oddly caused by allied forces. As horrible as it might be, Kurt Vonnegut says at the beginning of his book that “I thought, too, that [the book about Dresden] would be a masterpiece―But not many words about Dresden came from my mind then ― And not many come to mind now…” (Vonnegut 2). Having forgotten one of the most important parts of his life, it hints at how pointless war is and how something as big as Dresden can be forgotten as time goes on. Billy Pilgrim …show more content…

Even though she plays a minor role, Vonnegut uses her as another way to speak directly to the reader, vocalizing his opinions on war. In this instance she states… “You were just babies in the war—like the ones upstairs! […] But you’re not going to write it that way are you? […] You’ll pretend you’re man instead of babies…” (14). She goes on to say that war will continue because of the human tendency to glamorize war in the media. Society will continue to urge on war and the death it brings. Another, less preferred, title for Slaughterhouse Five is The Children’s Crusade. To describe the significance of this title, in Peter Reed’s essay he states that, “The obvious parallels with the rising of a modern army are that people sent to die are in both cases young, innocent, and uncomprehending. […] The “noble” intentions [They have] may bear little relation to the actual purposes or accomplishments of [War]” (Reed 12). Reed reiterates the idea that all who join the war are childish is due to the fact that they have an altered, romanticized vision of war. They are filled with a sense of nationalism that society builds up overtime and causes them to become pawns for the those who create the conflict. Connecting back to what negative effects war can have, Slaughterhouse Five indulges in the idea that the fact that wars occur creates the illusion that war is glorious in some way, inciting more war and more people unintentionally promoting

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The idea of war was only ideal to the young boys, and that changed throughout the course of the book. The war is frowned upon by some people, Irene Hunt, as an example. First, the letters that the boys in the war wrote were never positive. They always mentioned the awful things about the war, “Things was awful bad with so many kilt and others froze.”

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War is a harsh reality that is inflicted upon the unwilling through the “need” of it’s predecessors and those whom wish it. All Quiet on The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque is about 19 year old Paul and his friends in the “Second Company”. Even though they are just out of school age, they have already seen things that many could not bear to even think about. Eventually, all of his friends die, and even Paul too, dies. Remarque uses diction and syntax as literary devices to express his anti-war theme, or lesson.

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Through the use of characterization, an immense amount of novels are able to satirize and symbolize different types of people. In Kurt Vonnegut’s novel, Slaughterhouse-Five, this technique is applied in many instances within the novel. The main character Billy Pilgrim symbolizes the common man, and everything about him, including his name, contributes to this representation. In this deftly written novel, the author deliberately chooses the minor characters as the embodiments of different archetypes. Valencia portrays the average housewife and the general unhappiness of married couples.

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He brings his experience from the bombing of Dresden and recalls his encounters during the tragedy. Through the subject of Billy, he describes the aftermath of man’s destructive power through the bombing, “It looked like Dresden after it was fire-bombed-like the surface of the moon” (). From this quote, he paints a true sight of war where nothing is left but dust. He relates this event to emphasize the fact that war is a place of sadness and despair and from Billy’s viewpoint he observes the hurtfulness and all the destructiveness of the world when the city of Dresden gets

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Vonnegut as the author and narrator of the novel removes the doubt in the first chapter that not everything we read in Slaughterhouse-Five is true through the first words of the novel: “All this happened, more or less.” This opening line introduce the readers with Vonnegut story mixed with real and fictional events, a future which is blurred by past, time jumps from inner space and outer space and even human ethics verses extraterrestrial morals. Vonnegut managed to create a collision of these strange juxtaposition with true historical events narrated in an ironical voice. Victorious and glorious historical events such as “The Florence on the Elbe”, Sodom and Gomorrah down to WWII are portrayed with a humble language and through multidimensional

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They even know how the universe will end, but they do nothing for it won’t affect anyone because you just go back to a different part of your life. The second theme is the birds going poo-tee-wet. It makes no sense for a bird to say poo-tee-wet and the same thing can be said for war. Slaughterhouse 5 is an anti war book so it makes sense to understand the

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The main theme of the book is the realization that young and old men that are physically and mentally not ready for the line of duty are being forced to the front lines to fight in WWII, as a result of this they have to experience drastic and life changing events such as, Modern warfare and Prisoner of War (POW) camps. Vonnegut develops his comment on society through the novel by explaining how ill equipped men were sent to fight in the war, the advancements of modern warfare, and the effects that war can have on a person such as Billy Pilgrim. Kurt Vonnegut was born on November 11, 1922 in Indianapolis, Indiana and died on April 11, 2007. Vonnegut studied at the Cornell University from 1940 to 1942 then enlisted in The U.S. army. After he fought in the battle of the Bulge the

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He can't clarify or even remark on the passing and pulverization he has seen in Dresden. This reinforces the thought that war can have ghastly results even on the individuals who survive the war physically and return home as Vonnegut and even Billy Pilgrim do. Billy discovers his clarification of the shelling and the passing of such a large number

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They always make up any excuse possible just avoid the war. If it is not successful and they are send off into the war they are like in slaughterhouse. Most of the soldiers when they survive the war are somehow effected by all bad they have seen. Vonnegut also describes violence in this book and there’s a lot of it. There’s just too much violence in this world and once Billy’s wife dies it’s weird.

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The line further adds to the death and destruction that surrounds the war, as innocent children are killed by someone carrying out a devastating movement. Furthermore, adding to the negative aspects of war, the line "Destruction and regeneration" was said as part of the

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Kurt Vonnegut enlisted in the United States Army at the time of World War II. He was captured as a prisoner of war where he received much of his literary inspiration for Slaughterhouse-Five. The anti war theme throughout the book is touched on and also rebutted when Vonnegut states, “there would always be wars, that they were as easy to stop as glaciers” (Vonnegut 4). Vonnegut knows he is writing an anti war book but also is aware that wars cannot altogether be halted he is only trying to relay the horrors of war. The number of innocent victims killed by the bombing is alarming and Vonnegut keeping with his anti war theme made it a point to center his novel around the Dresden bombing which increased knowledge of what the historical city Dresden once was.

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To understand the history of past cultures, it is imperative that both sides are heard. Many novels continually showcase this new outlook on history. Kurt Vonnegut’s novel, Slaughterhouse-Five, demonstrates the New Historicism perspective with subjective accounts, reflections of the time it is written, and lack of the opposing side ’s outlook. To begin, New Historicism is showcased by subjective accounts that are apparent in developing the

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The author expresses throughout the novel that the war destroys an entire generation’s lives. Paul explains, “[Him and the other young soldiers] had not as yet taken no root. The war swept [them] away. For the older men, it is but an interruption. They are able to think beyond it.[Paul and the other young soldiers], however, have been gripped by it and do not know what the end may be” (20).

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Trout uses science fiction and its different elements such as cognitive estrangement and structural fabulation in order to build a metaphor that guides the reader into thinking about an aspect of society that the author wants to criticize. This communicative piece intends to portray social criticism in the way Vonnegut does it, but taken to our reality and analyzing aspects we want to condemn. We opened the book on chapter nine and decided to write our own new plot as if Billy Pilgrim was the one reading it. We wrote the text and inserted it as part of the chapter in order to adhere it to the rest of society’s criticism seen in the book in the very best Vonnegut style. In order to interpret Vonnegut’s intentions and purpose of social criticism throughout Slaughterhouse Five, specially in chapter nine, it´s necessary to understand science fiction and its elements.

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First, the setting of this story takes place in the past, present, and the future. The central point of this story; however, is in a city of Germany called Dresden. On the night of February 13, 1945, Allied bombers dropped incendiary bombs on Dresden, creating a firestorm that destroyed the city (Source Cox, F. Brett). Billy, the main character, describes his experience before, during, and after these bombings took place. From the wondrous moments of scouring Dresden, to being captured alive by

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