Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Literary Analysis

Eternity of life is just a questionable idea. Can a being really live on forever, even though they are not alive and standing in front at the moment? This is just one philosophical point made by Kurt Vonnegut Jr in his book “ Slaughterhouse-5”. Vonnegut, having experienced the calamity of the Dresden bombing wrote this book to concede suffering, not to publicize or propagandize any kind of fallacy that this is an anti war book. This being said, Vonnegut scrutinizes many philosophical aspects of time, and memories which provides a being with a sense of strength to live through Billy Pilgrim, the protagonist of this book, and the events that occur to shape his character. Although in the beginning Billy has not much of a character.

Billy is

Tralfamadorians have a different, unique view of the universe. They believe that, “all moments, past, present, and future have existed, and always will exist “(27). This Billy writes in his letter to the the Ilium news leader to make them realize that there are such aliens called the Tralfamadorians who hold a new and interesting philosophy about time. Thus conveying to the reader that there is more to time and memories than is looked upon. Humans perceive this concept as being a moment for which “One moment follows another like beads on a string, and that once a moment is gone it is gone forever. (27) Vonnegut wants to show that when a moment is gone, it is not gone forever in attempt to prove the theory believed by beings wrong, hence explaining the non linear structure of the book. Through random events that Billy experiences he is always referred to as being “unstuck in time” (23).This phrase is used when Billy randomly travels to different events for example in Ch. 2 he travels to his wedding day. Vonnegut attempts to acknowledge the fact that when he travels to different events in time, they are actually his memories that he travels to and they are not linear but in fact very random which appear and disappear. The events and teachings he learns from the Tralfamadorians lead to Billy’s character

Vonnegut attempts to direct the reader towards a deeper meaning embedded in the events that take place with Billy pilgrim which is that time and memories are eternal and random but they provide a being with a sense of mental strength.Vonnegut, shows this by the teachings Billy learns from Tralfamadore about time, memories, and death. This philosophical idea, is convoluted in itself for which Vonnegut through his experience of the Dresden bombing explains thoroughly throughout the book through