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Summary Of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five

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The novel Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut has been a controversial novel for quite some time. Vonnegut starts out the novel by telling the reader he is going to write a book about the bombing of Dresden. He then asks his friend from the war, O’ Hare, to help him retain his memories, but while they recap information, O’ Hare’s wife is flustered and angered that someone wants to write a book about something so horrible. She does not want her kids seeing war as a good thing coming from the book. While writing his book, Vonnegut struggles to recall his past, and PTSD played a factor, even though the disease was not discovered yet during the 60’s. In his anti-war novel, he discusses the bombing and says Dresden looked like the moon. At times …show more content…

The anti-war novel can be seen as glamorizing the subject of war. When you think of the perspective of war today, it may seem to glamorize young kids and adults. They play video games like Call of Duty and Modern Warfare and think it is right to kill others. People may see Slaughterhouse Five as a novel that glamorizes war, but at the end of the day what the novel does is tell a story about history. Why should students be banned from learning about their country? On the other hand, when they are in school the curriculum does not allow students to read about drugs, liquor, or life. (p.25 Veix). High schoolers read love stories or fiction and are not taught about bad things Americans have done in past time. When Vonnegut released his novel it allowed the bombing to go public and created sensitivity and significance to the ongoing Americans in Vietnam. (p. 9 Rigney). Americans should be educated about the bombing so they can learn more about America’s history, even if it is an event they are not proud of. Teachers can teach the book by having students report on the tragedy of the novel and therefore recover from all the information they are taking in as a group. (p. 29 Veix). Americans today watch movies or play video games about war, but are unaware of the bombing of Dresden during World War

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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.

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First, the setting of this story takes place in the past, present, and the future. The central point of this story; however, is in a city of Germany called Dresden. On the night of February 13, 1945, Allied bombers dropped incendiary bombs on Dresden, creating a firestorm that destroyed the city (Source Cox, F. Brett). Billy, the main character, describes his experience before, during, and after these bombings took place. From the wondrous moments of scouring Dresden, to being captured alive by

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