Critical Analysis of Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse-Fi
Critical Analysis of Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse-Five"
Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five is essentially an anti-war book. The historical context of this book centers around the bombing of Dresden on the nights of Feb. 13 and 14 in 1944 during World War II. Hundreds and thousands were killed at locations like Dresden, which were non-military in nature but served as methods of weakening Axis morale. Vonnegut himself was present at Dresden when it was bombed. This book is his way of releasing emotional turmoil caused by war. Slaughterhouse-Five, much like other Vonnegut books, shows his strong disgust of war and the ironies of contemporary society in attempting in vain to answer the question “Why war?”
Billy Pilgrim, the protagonist of Slaughterhouse-Five, is the mirror image of Vonnegut. Billy is trying to reconcile with the guilt of being the sole survivor of the Dresden bombing. The events that led to his survival are modeled after Vonnegut’s own experiences during the war. After the war, Billy is greatly traumatized. He views his survival as a curse rather than a blessing. Billy is so distraught that he rejects the life that is granted to him. This mirrors Vonnegut’s own rejection of contemporary society (Tanner 13). Vonnegut’s view comes from his belief that society tries to justify war. Billy goes to the point of mental insanity looking for a justification for war. He looks for happiness in searching for a reason that he experienced the terrible atrocities that transpire under the auspices of war.
He finds relief through his unusual way in which he views time. Billy is “unstuck in time” which allows him to shift to different times in his life. Vonnegut uses this as a plot device. The book is written in an anecdotal structure, with sections separated with spaces. The sections are not arranged in chronological order, for each separation represent a shift to a different time in Billy’s life. Although confusing at first, this plot device makes complete sense in the novel as a whole. Different times are not arbitrarily strung together either. Transitions to other times in Billy’s life is marked by different sensations or reoccurrences that shown up at separate times. Vonnegut is able to concoct a story out of paragraphs, which are disoriented and disordered; yet the story remains coherent...