How Does Vonnegut Use Heroism In Slaughterhouse Five

Throughout history, soldiers on the front lines of war have been glamorized as heroes that defend their nations from foreign evils. A common image of these soldiers are everyday people that have risen to the occasion of war and gone out in a blaze of glory. The novel Slaughterhouse-Five, however, takes a strong stance against this idea. The author, Kurt Vonnegut, structures the lives of various soldiers throughout the novel to detract from their heroic qualities, uses incoherent language to emphasize the idea that war is incomprehensible, and structures the novel to emphasize the idea that the glory and heroism of war are illusions.

Vonnegut detracts from the heroic qualities and embellishes the flaws of Roland Weary and Edgar Derby in Slaughterhouse-Five

However, his heroic traits in the story are undermined by his death, as he is ironically put to death for stealing a teapot from rubble. Vonnegut uses the irony of Derby’s death to emphasize the lack of fame in war, since Derby is not recognized for his heroic actions during the war post mortem. Though he stands up for his compatriots during the war, Derby becomes another one of the million faceless victims of war. Derby’s lack of recognition bolsters the idea that fame and glory and war are an

The motif of “Poo-tee-weet”, more specifically, is repeated multiple times. The second time it is mentioned is to foreshadow the ending of the narrative. Vonnegut foreshadows the ending of the novel at the end of the first chapter, signifying that even though the glory and fame of war are an illusion, it will inexplicably continue to exist, even though people will eventually come to learn that it is not what it seems. The motif is also used as a response to a question about what birds would say about a massacre. In this situation Vonnegut emphasizes the idea that war is inexplicable, similar to how we cannot understand the language of birds. Furthermore, the phrase “So it goes” is repeated multiple times throughout the novel to reflect the resignation the narrator feels towards making an impact on wars. The phrase itself does not hold any significance in each situation it is used, since it accompanies every death or mention of death in the novel. Similarly to how the phrase “Poo-tee-weet” reflects inexplicability, the phrase “So it goes” is used to emphasize the inability to stop wars and their never-ending