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Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five

1216 Words5 Pages

Kurt Vonnegut is a famous American author who wrote many novels, short stories, broadway plays, and also scripts for television shows. On November 11, 1922, Vonnegut was born into wealth and peace on his father’s Indianapolis farm where he was constantly overshadowed from his genius siblings. When the stock market crashed in 1929, his father's architecture firm failed and all the money they saved was lost (Peck). Vonnegut viewed the world as a happy and peaceful place until he was enlisted to fight in World War II where his view of the world was completely changed (Priest). During war, he experienced many gruesome parts of war that would keep him horrified for over 23 years until he overcame them by writing a novel about his experiences in …show more content…

Billy goes through similar experiences that Vonnegut did such as being in war, being overworked in a concentration camp, and being in the middle of the Firebombing of Dresden. Billy had a peaceful life in Ilium New York until he is drafted into war. Even in war, Billy learned how to stay peaceful. Like Vonnegut, Billy never carried a gun and almost froze in the cold climate. At the Battle of the Bulge, Billy and three others were captured and brought to concentration camps. Vonnegut experienced this same event but he was captured with hundreds of soldiers rather than three. Like Vonnegut, Billy experienced the firebombings of Dresden and hid under a slaughter house that would save his life …show more content…

American and British soldiers flew planes over the city of Dresden and bombed many targets including Vonnegut’s concentration camp. The bombings killed over 135,000 people, almost twice as many casualties as the bombings of Hiroshima. Despite this mass number of deaths, this event rarely did anything to German forces (“Kurt” 267). Kurt Vonnegut was working in a concentration camp at the time of the bombings. From February 13 and 14, Vonnegut and several other workers hid under a slaughterhouse to stay shielded from bombs. They waited out the bombings and walked out to see a leveled camp and town. They were liberated since nobody could take charge of them anymore and they were sent home. Billy also experienced the bombings a of Dresden. Along with himself and several others, Billy hid under a slaughterhouse to stay safe from bombs. Billy was not so lucky though. Upon exiting the Slaughterhouse and looking around to see what damage was done, Billy was abducted by aliens and brought to the planet of Tralfamadore where he would be placed in another work

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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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25,000 people died when the Allied forces dropped incendiary devices over Dresden, Germany. After surviving this, Kurt Vonnegut was forced to clean up the charred bodies. Although the term did not specifically enter the english language until after the publishing of Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder because of what he witnessed there. Most people who suffer from PTSD use common coping techniques some are simply in denial, some stay in an emotional state of uneasiness, while others result to self-harm. Vonnegut uses the novel as a coping mechanism to find new ways to handle the disorder.

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