Slaughterhouse Five Vietnam War Analysis

Throughout American history, the draft has been a major subject of contempt and debate. While throughout World War II many men entered the war with no protest, expecting to return home as a glorified hero, this attitude changed as the more negative impacts of war were revealed in the Cold War period. As the Vietnam War emerged in the 1960’s, much of the youth no longer desired to fight in foreign countries, awaiting their inevitable death. Thus, a strong anti-war movement began, setting the stage for Vonnegut, a World War II veteran, to write Slaughterhouse-Five, a novel that reveals the destructive nature of war and fighting. Throughout Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut attacks the practice of sending innocent, naive boys into combat by alluding

Vonnegut’s pacifist attitude towards war and the misery that stems from it is evident throughout the novel, however he specifically incriminates the tradition of sending adolescent soldiers to fight for their country. In World War II, America shipped thousands of teenaged boys to Europe, sending them directly to the frontlines with limited experience and knowledge of death or war. While many of the men believed they were fighting for a meaningful cause, they were still forced to slaughter enemy men who were also extraordinarily young. Vonnegut compares the mass destruction of World War II to the Medieval Crusades fought by children. He initially named the novel The Children’s Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death, thus suggesting that the boys were fighting a crusade in which death was the likely outcome. Legends of the Children’s Crusade in the Middle Ages highlight the initially peaceful intentions of young boys who sought to convert Muslims to Christians, yet were sold into slavery where many died. The children were betrayed by many adults along their

Throughout the novel, Vonnegut employs a messy, disjointed narrative that jumps back and forth between various points in time. This narrative style mirrors Vonnegut’s feelings that war is imperfect and jumbled, yet inexperienced children are expected to overcome all barriers and challenges. The non-chronological order shifts between Billy’s teenage years spent wandering aimlessly around Europe in World War II which highlights his immaturity and lack of discernment, to his adult years in which he suffers from a PTSD-related mental illness. The novel is confusing and fragmented, which provides insight into how young soldiers may have felt when engaged in warfare. Similarly, the irony of Billy Pilgrim, a foolish and moronic child, outliving nearly every other character-all of whom seemed more likely to survive- in the war depicts the lack of order and predictability in war. Vonnegut initially describes Billy as a “damn college kid, who was so weak he shouldn’t even have been in the army”(page 53). This characterization of Billy as pitiful and lacking in all stereotypical soldierly qualities is ultimately ironic, as Billy survives the war despite his naiveness. Vonnegut emphasizes the idea that many men and adolescents in war inevitably die despite their intelligence or level of experience. Therefore, many of the children who enlist in the war