Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five

Kurt Vonnegut had two successful parents. His dad, Kurt Vonnegut was a successful architect who loved to hunt, while his mother Edith Vonnegut ran a successful brewery. Both held steady paying jobs until the Great Depression. They lost a lot of money and were barely getting by, but they sent Vonnegut to college nonetheless. He went for a science degree because he and his parents thought it would make him the most money. Kurt Vonnegut was enjoying college until he had to leave. “He had only six months of college…”(Vonnegut 37). After six months, Vonnegut was drafted into the war even if if was against his beliefs. He did it because he felt a sense of pride for his country. Vonnegut was feeling pugnacious and he wanted to get revenge on the Japanese

He also experienced the bombing of Dresden. Over 135,000 people were murdered. In Slaughterhouse-Five Billy’s experiences are important because, “Throughout the novel, Vonnegut draws upon the historical events of his life to date, which is also the lifespan of his character Billy Pilgrim”(Moss, Wilson). After the bombing, he worked for the Nazi army and had to dig corpse mines. His friend was also shot for stealing a teapot from the rubble. After the war he came back to the US and went back to college. Then he married and had two children, a boy and girl. In 2007, he

There they were stored in a meat locker as a jail, Which was called, Slaughterhouse- Five. Luckily for Billy, they were put in that locker. Billy even had an ominous feeling when he was put inside of the cellar. Which came true, when the bombs came. “But Vonnegut did not see the firebombing, he heard it, from within SlaughterHouse- Five. So does Billy Pilgrim,”(Harris 274). Vonnegut and Billy Pilgrim experience the same actions in the story. Even after the bombing, him and his friends were still alive, as well as some German guards. When the guards realized that Billy and the others were still alive, they are marched outside. During this part of the novel, Vonnegut goes into first person and states, “Now Billy and the rest were being marched into the ruin by their guards. I was there,”(Vonnegut 212). Then they very forced by the belligerent guards to dig corpse mines. They smelled so bad that one person had died from the smell alone. The smell made him throw up continuously until he died. Billy’s friend also had been shot for trying to steal a teapot. Which had also happened to Vonnegut’s friend during the war. The soldiers then shoved the prisoners into barn and locked them inside of it. One day, they heard the birds chirping and tried to open the door. He found that it was unlocked. Billy Pilgrim was filled with exultation. He had survived the war and every other bad deed done to