Slaughterhouse-Five By Kurt Vonnegut: Literary Analysis

Throughout history, many crucial events have touched numerous people in their own way, one of these events being World War II. This war impacted countless people who were affected by the horrendous things that Germany ensued. One person that was impacted by World War II is Kurt Vonnegut. From his experiences in the war, he has written multiple books, one of his books being about his involvement in the Dresden firebombing. Within the book, he uses different literary devices that reflect this historical event. World War II was influential to the life of Kurt Vonnegut and his novel Slaughterhouse-Five. World War II officially began when Hitler decided to direct his army to invade Poland in September of 1939. Hitler’s invasion led to the creation

Because of this, he got captured by the German soldiers and brought to Dresden, Germany. Unfortunately for him, he was brought the same time that the Allies firebombed the city in 1945 (2590). This was a very tragic and frantic moment for them because they were all worried about surviving the attack. Luckily for them, they survived, unlike the 135,000 German civilians who did not. This event brought him to conjure up the idea of giving this event some justice, not just any justice, but fictional justice. He wanted to write a book about the Dresden firebombing so that people knew about how this small event during World War II affected so many people. In his books, the stories that he creates are built more around his ideas and discussions rather than analyzing characters (Ryan 3044). He was classified as a science fiction author by his works but, he personally believes that his books go into more depth than the other works in science fiction. When he is giving an interview, he describes his book as, “short and jumbled and jangled… because there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre”. Although many people believe this to be true, critics found him at fault for not taking matters more seriously. Once the critics thought of him as careless and nonchalant about his work ethic, his work was not highly acclaimed or accepted into the academic canon for several years.

Dresden symbolizes the senseless horror of war, of humankind’s self-destructive properties, and of how events arbitrarily overrule the lives of individuals (Reed 2595). This can be shown in the book when the firebombing takes place. The firebombing is caused by the Allies fighting back against the Axis Powers. From this, you can also see how man-made items are held accountable for the destruction of the city. And because of this one event, many individuals lost their family, friends, homes, and their basic way of living. The symbolism here shows that Vonnegut knew how much the firebombing impacted people and how he was influenced by this event to make sure that people knew about it and not just leave it behind (Ryan