ipl-logo

The Trauma In Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five

967 Words4 Pages

Have you ever heard that you should not always believe everything you are told? According to many researchers this is thought to be true about one of the most famous novels written by Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five. Many researchers have said that not everything within this novel can be thought to be true because of the trauma that Vonnegut and his war partners had experienced with being some of the prisoners of war. When this book was written people did not know quite what trauma was all about, they did not know that trauma has affects to a person’s mental or emotional state. “Kurt Vonnegut struggled for years to depict his memories of Dresden's infamous firebombing in 1945, due in part to the fact that no specific medical discourse yet …show more content…

The events that happen to these characters are supposed to be what had actually happened to some of the people within the war but because of Vonnegut’s post-traumatic stress disorder he overexaggerates events or talks about them differently in more than one way. “In a 1973 interview with Playboy, he stated that “there was a complete blank where the bombing of Dresden took place” (Standish 94). He noted that his “old war buddies” didn’t remember either.” (Jeremy C. Justus). The person from Playboy who had interviewed Vonnegut about the war found that some of the events Vonnegut is talking about may not be true or they may not have happened the way Vonnegut portrays them to happen. The quote that was shown earlier shows that Vonnegut does not remember everything about the war and neither does the people Vonnegut asked to help him write this novel. Vonnegut within the novel has a conversation with his old war buddy and says “I think the climax of the book will be the execution of poor old Edgar Derby, the irony is so great. A whole city gets burned down, and thousands and thousands of people are killed. And then this one American foot soldier is arrested in the ruins for taking a teapot. And he’s given a regular trial, and then he’s shot by a firing squad” (Kurt Vonnegut 6). Vonnegut’s old war buddy does not remember this, and he tells Vonnegut that he does not, so this event may have happened the way that Vonnegut described, or it may have been a false memory because of his PTSD. Due to the fact that nobody who was really in the war actually remembers where the bombing actually happened this gives us a reason to not really believe what Vonnegut has to say about the war. Vonnegut also states “all this happened, more or less. The war parts anyway, are pretty much true” (Vonnegut 1). With this being said, even Vonnegut is telling you that not everything he

Show More
Related

Comparing Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir Of The Pacific War By William Manchester

1238 Words | 5 Pages

Such as in Goodbye Darkness there were sometimes where Manchester brought humor or was not all serious such as when he talked about sex and his virginity. In Slaughterhouse 5, even though it is seen as a fantasy novel there are parts in this novel that displays facts and Vonnegut’s memoir. He talks about all the dreadful things that he had experience and how much of a tragedy the bombing of Dresden was. Even though Goodbye darkness is seen as a dark memoir and Slaughterhouse 5 is seen as a science-fiction novel both authors founds their own ways in dealing with the war. The war affected them in different ways causing them to have post-traumatic stress disorder which affects a lot of soldiers and being able to explain their experiences through different views can also open up different views for others.

Read More

Summary Of Slaughterhouse Five By Kurt Vonnegut

1504 Words | 7 Pages

He saw the fiery destruction that took place during the firebombing of Dresden, and Slaughterhouse Five draws from these vivid experiences. Kurt Vonnegut begins Slaughterhouse Five with a personal account on why it

Read More

Use Of Motifs In Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five

466 Words | 2 Pages

Kurt Vonnegut shows how during the war “real life” was taken away.

Read More

The Dresden Bombing In Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five

1745 Words | 7 Pages

Kurt Vonnegut enlisted in the United States Army at the time of World War II. He was captured as a prisoner of war where he received much of his literary inspiration for Slaughterhouse-Five. The anti war theme throughout the book is touched on and also rebutted when Vonnegut states, “there would always be wars, that they were as easy to stop as glaciers” (Vonnegut 4). Vonnegut knows he is writing an anti war book but also is aware that wars cannot altogether be halted he is only trying to relay the horrors of war. The number of innocent victims killed by the bombing is alarming and Vonnegut keeping with his anti war theme made it a point to center his novel around the Dresden bombing which increased knowledge of what the historical city Dresden once was.

Read More

Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five

1273 Words | 6 Pages

So does Billy Pilgrim,”(Harris 274). Vonnegut and Billy Pilgrim experience the same actions in the story. Even after the bombing, him and his friends were still alive, as well as some German guards. When the guards realized that Billy and the others were still alive, they are marched outside. During this part of the novel, Vonnegut goes into first person and states, “Now Billy and the rest were being marched into the ruin by their guards.

Read More

Of PTSD In Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughter-House-Five

957 Words | 4 Pages

Billy is often portrayed in Slaughterhouse-Five as a soldier who is affected by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), as he has problems expressing his emotions as well as coming to terms with his life after war and reality. PTSD affects Billy's life so greatly in the novel that it shows the reader that the war does not end after the fighting stops, but that there is an aftermath that continues to affect the soldier. In Slaughterhouse-Five, Billy’s life serves as an example of the negative and damaging effects of war on people as individuals, such as misinterpretation of time, disconnection from the world, and inability to feel

Read More

Slaughterhouse-Five By Kurt Vonnegut: Literary Analysis

2081 Words | 9 Pages

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.

Read More

Examples Of Bildungsroman In Slaughterhouse Five

786 Words | 4 Pages

Instead of using the war as a stepping stone for growth, Slaughterhouse Five uses the bombing of Dresden to illustrate the absurdity and horror of war. A meaningful quote that provides insight into the true meaning of war is when Billy describes war to be “so short and jumbled and jangled, because there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre. Everybody is supposed to be dead, to never say anything or want anything ever again”. Using Billy’s description of war, Vonnegut undermines the traditional, heroic war narratives created by many others at the time, instead using Billy to show the senselessness of war, as well as how it impacts the

Read More

Point Of View In Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five

1444 Words | 6 Pages

Lilia Bieker M. Segovia AP English IV - 7th 1 April 2018 Vonnegut’s Perspective in Slaughterhouse Five Kurt Vonnegut’s work, Slaughterhouse five, is a story of Billy Pilgrim, for the most part a non-heroic character, who goes through a violent and ever changing experience when drafted into the army as an American soldier for World War II. Experiencing the harsh bombings of Dresden, Germany, Billy survives and is stuck living a life in which he “travels” back and forth in time, visiting his past, present, and future in burstful, out of sequence moments. With the help of psychoanalytic criticism, Vonnegut guides his own point of view through Billy Pilgrim, to express his strong opinion of deromanticizing war. Vonnegut expresses that men are

Read More

Slaughterhouse-Five By Kurt Vonnegut: A Literary Analysis

1849 Words | 8 Pages

War is like a scar, once it cuts you, you will be scared forever, and every time you look at that scar it will remind you of how it happened. The photograph I chose to help me compare and contrast Kurt Vonnegut “Slaughterhouse-Five” is AP photojournalist Horst Faas, War

Read More

Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five

1228 Words | 5 Pages

As I said before, it is very jumbled, but at the same time it isn’t. No, Vonnegut does not write in chronological order, but that isn’t to say he writes with no order. I believe that he ranks the events in an order of apparent importance. This is why he starts off writing about how he would write the book, then himself, then O’Hare, arriving at Billy Pilgrim and finally the war itself. Although he writes as memories come back to him, not later as he really thinks about it, Vonnegut’s mind was already ranking them in their importance.

Read More

Kurt Vonnegut Research Paper

989 Words | 4 Pages

World War II is notorious for its mass destruction and loss of lives. On February 13th, 1945 the Allied powers bombed the city of Dresden, killing more than 135,000 people. In German captivity, Kurt Vonnegut survived the bombings while waiting underground for hours. Imagine surviving one of the deadliest acts of war, listening to a city crumbling down above you, and then being forced to clean up the aftermath. This was the reality Kurt Vonnegut had to face.

Read More

Literary Elements Used In Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five

441 Words | 2 Pages

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

Read More

Heroism In Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five

929 Words | 4 Pages

Destruction of Dresden and the death of his best friend, Edgar Derby were one of the most traumatic war experiences that happened to Billy. In sixth chapter Billy had been told by the English prisoners of war

Read More

Kurt Vonnegut Mentality

1016 Words | 5 Pages

Towards the end of Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut uses an excerpt from The Destruction of Dresden by David Irving. In this excerpt there is a message written by Air Marshal Sir Robert Suandy speaking on behalf of the Dresden Air Raid, “a great tragedy” (Slaugterhouse-Five,187). Suandy declared “It was one of those terrible things that sometimes happens in wartime, brought about by

Read More

More about The Trauma In Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five

Related Topics

Open Document