Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five Anti-War

Slaughterhouse-Five Anti-War Essay Slaughterhouse-Five was an influential anti-war book written by acclaimed author, Kurt Vonnegut. It follows main character Billy Pilgrim, who has become unstuck in time, and randomly views various moments of his life with no control over what he can view at the current moment. These moments include his time in the second World War, his time on the planet of Tralfamadore, and other occurrences in his bizarre life. Kurt Vonnegut’s experiences in Dresden and the second world war and America’s involvement in the Vietnam War help to shape his overarching message of his views on war in general. The character of Billy Pilgrim is used in a creative way to help address Vonnegut’s message. Billy believes that he doesn’t have much control over anything in life, and he believes that “among the things he could not change were the past, present and future.”(pg. 60). As we progress throughout the

In 1969, most of the american population was fed up with the war effort. They were upset because lots of young men were being sent to the frontlines because of the draft, and then some ended up dying as well. They were also upset because the war didn’t seem to have much meaning, and hints of hypocrisy from our government by trying to stop the spread of communism with the spread of representative democracy. Vonnegut used this to his advantage, writing about the bombing of Dresden. It opened all the readers’ eye’s to how much more horrific war can be, with lots of young men and innocent civilians dying for an unnecessary cause. Some sources say that the amount of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians killed in the war were estimated to be in the millions. Vonnegut wanted to capitalize on this anger and unrest, to help voice his own opinions on war, and to raise awareness to others who currently didn’t share similar