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Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five Essay

1484 Words6 Pages

Postmodernism is one of the most discussed topics in contemporary world. According to Burgass (2000), Postmodern fiction is often and appropriately characterized by a concern with ontological categories, an exploration of the boundaries between fact and fiction, the world and the text. Mainly this paper aims to discuss the postmodernist features of Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut in the light of postmodernism. This paper will also introduce the summary of the novel and biography of the author. Thus this paper will present a thematic and technique analysis of the novels.
Keywords: postmodernism, irony and satire, parody, fragmentation, self-reflection.

I. INTRODUCTION

Kurt Vonnegut was born on 11 November in 1922 and died on April 11 …show more content…

As a postmodern novel the novel Slaughterhouse Five is constructed around the Death and Dresden. The novel reflects a history to the reader in this way, inviting the reader to look up Dresden and other references that based fragmented through the story. Burgass (2000) emphasizes that Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five (1968) also thematizes the writing of history, this time of the Second World War, particularly the bombing of Dresden. It opens with a qualified truth claim: ‘All this happened, more or less. The war parts, anyway, are pretty much true’. There are severe postmodernist features in Slaughterhouse Five. Irony, satire, parody, self-reflection and fragmentation are the main ones.

I.II.I. Postmodernism in Literature
Postmodern literature is a form of literature which is marked, both stylistically and ideologically, by a reliance on such literary conventions as fragmentation, paradox, unreliable narrators, often unrealistic and downright impossible plots, games, parody, paranoia, dark humor and authorial self-reference. (Fleming 2014)

I.II.II. Irony and …show more content…

It is used in reflection of time, place or character itself. Vonnegut shows horror of war openly imaginative; because he deliberately hits reality and hides it, and requires active participation when it comes to ironic expressions such as "and so on." Then the main point becomes the reader, unlike the narrator, where Vonnegut reaches something through the exchange of ideas. Kurt Vonnegut’s reaction to death creates a reaction that the reader stresses in his every day with an inevitable tone. The spooky, all-satanic gathering to convey the ridiculousness of the war is challenged harshly by the scenes that create fear, contempt and disgust; laughter is a means of moving society into action because Vonnegut uses this device to prevent or correct attitudes toward war by showing us the degree of

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