Slaughterhouse Five Essay

Abstract

Kurt Vonnegut’s 1969 novel, Slaughterhouse-Five, reenacts the lives of American soldiers during WWII. This book shows the true aspects of war without censoring many events, including becoming a prisoner of war. It focuses on the bombing of Dresden, and how it affects the narrator for the rest of his life. As Billy becomes “unstuck in time”, he travels throughout his life, spending months on a Tralfamadore spacecraft while only seconds have passed on Earth. “Earthling”, Billy Pilgrim, the main character, encounters many scenes that require a mature audience. Due to this, public highschools are banning Slaughterhouse-Five across the country. From Levittwon, NY to Owensboro, KY the same complaints apply, "the book contains foul language

In Slaughterhouse-five, Vonnegut does not hold back when telling stories of the war. “Now they were dying in the snow, turning the color of the snow to raspberry sorbet. So it goes” (Kurt Vonnegut, 1969). The words “so it goes” are repetitive throughout the novel. It demonstrates how much the soldiers were desensitized to death. They were constantly surrounded by loss and the injuries/deaths they were inflicting, yet no one seemed to understand. Vonnegut teaches us to consider why we are participating in a war and to be more critical of the government. “War, and the experience of war, tends to be portrayed through manifold layers of comforting illusion built up like strips of emotional insulation around the plain, nearly unbearable abomination of what actually occurs . . . It includes the deliberate shooting of officers by their own troops, sadistic behavior, dismemberment of bodies, acts of cowardice and betrayal, a smutty cynicism on the part of the fighting men, and the unnecessary slaughter of civilians” (Glorification of War | the Encyclopedia of World Problems, 2016). Vonnegut does an excellent job of demonstrating the tragedies of war. Plenty of people need this so-called “wake up call” to prevent mass death in the future. Young people nowadays are surrounded by violence in movies, video games, and books. Therefore, they become desensitized to true violence and

Many soldiers later in life wrote or spoke of how the war affects them on the daily. To Billy, becoming “unstuck” in time is his way of describing PTSD to the reader. While sleeping in a train car, Billy is woken by a soldier yelling at him. “ ‘Where can I sleep?’ he asked quietly. ‘Not with me.’ ‘Not with me you son of a (expletive),’ said somebody else. ‘You yell. You kick.’” (Kurt Vonnegut, 1969). These flashbacks are not said to be resulted from PTSD, however we can infer that this is true because of his actions when being a POW (prisoner of war). PTSD is often thought to happen after war, not during service. Vonnegut also describes how this affects him for the rest of his life. According to the University of Utah, unemployment, homelessness and suicide rates are rising within the U.S. veteran population. (The Mental Health Effects of War: Backed by Science, 2022) The effects of war still need to be studied and considered before engaging in any warfare. Given Kurt Vonnegut had anti-war beliefs, he does a very nice job of getting his point across. Furthermore, Slaughterhouse-five references and explains parts of WWII throughout the novel and teaches readers more about the specific time