Kurt Vonnegut in Slaughterhouse-Five Reveals His Antiwar Attitude by Showing Catastrophes of War - Essay Example

Outline Topic Kurt Vonnegut in Slaughterhouse-Five reveals his antiwar attitude by showing catastrophes of war through his personal experiences and through fiction character Billy Pilgrim Thesis This research paper would help explore how Kurt reveals his antiwar attitude through showing catastrophic experiences of his main character Billy Pilgrim. Introduction The catastrophe of war in Slaughterhouse Five helps to justify that a single death is a tragedy while a million deaths becomes a statistic. Vonnegut impersonation of war that he shares through his lead character Billy is a pragmatic characterization of the war. Catastrophes of War The psychological consequences Distorted perception of life The idea of death and time as part of the cataclysms of war Conclusion As part of his antiwar attitude, Vonnegut expects everyone to come into reality that one has to accept things as they happen since at no one time it would be possible to alter what is inevitable. Work cited Kurt Vonnegut in Slaughterhouse-Five Slaughterhouse-Five is genre under the science fiction as it reads more like Kurt Vonnegut trying to make sense of his WWII memoirs. The well-crafted themes of anti-war and the ludicrousness that come with it through the character of Billy Pilgrim make the novel a master copy1. More importantly, Kurt uses his non-linear plot configuration in order to point up the timey-winey nature of Billy’s suffering. As one reads the story, Slaughterhouse-Five is an assortment of non-chronological happenings and events of in Billy Pilgrim’s life. There are many of Billy’s experiences in WWII, his life after the war as well as his abduction by the Tralfamadorians2. As the writer would have it, he brought these aliens in order to parade them as viewing events in time simultaneously rather than chronologically. This research paper would help explore how Kurt reveals his antiwar attitude through showing catastrophic experiences of his main character Billy Pilgrim. The catastrophe of war in Slaughterhouse Five helps to justify that a single death is a tragedy while a million deaths becomes a statistic. Vonnegut impersonation of war that he shares through his lead character Billy is a pragmatic characterization of the war. One can sense the initial intentions of trying to improve the lives of people, but the catastrophe of war bites where inevitably it ends with massive destruction of human life3. Through Billy, Vonnegut endorses this view by extensively showing that war, no matter the reason behind it, cannot be justified as long as the infantry resonates into innocent lives being lost. His use of free will as the central theme helps a lot in parading Billy’s circumstances, hence illustrating the absurdity of war. For instance, Vonnegut creates the account of Billy Pilgrim’s capture and incarceration by the Germans in order to reflect his last years of WWII4. This forms part of the setting that Vonnegut employs in order to convey the terrors of war. The juxtaposing of the hell-like Dresden with the heavenly Trafalmador validates his initiative. Through Billy, Vonnegut explores the psychological consequences of war that one may have to cope with (Vonnegut 181). In his own perception, Vonnegut wonders as to how nice it may be for one to feel nothing, and still be able to get full credit for being alive. These are the sort of experiences and emotions that Kurt’s lead character, Billy Pilgrim endures to mirror how it was during his time in World War II. For example, one might notice that the responses of Billy to people as well as events lack neither intensity nor passion5. The psychological trauma of war can also be felt as Billy tries to explain his time travel to different moments in his life. The experience he encounters with the creatures of Tralfamadore and the bombing of Dresden are the consequences that Kurt’s novel, Slaughterhouse-Five emphasizes. Nothing explains the trauma of war like Billy’s suicidal emotions as seen during most of the novel as he even finds it challenging to connect with almost anyone on earth. However, the fictional planet Tralfamadore seems as the only way of solace and a coping mechanism for Billy in order to break out from the rampaging effects of war. As a soldier with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Billy, struggles a lot in expressing his feelings and live in his reality6. At such a point, one would credit Vonnegut for explicitly lifting the lid on what normally comes after a war is over. The way Vonnegut focuses on Billy’s psyche more than the firebombing of Dresden illustrates the writer’s concern about the psychological impact on those involved in war. Therefore, Billy is part of the soldiers who feel lost and detached from the society as the ability of war in dehumanizing an individual becomes the conduit through which Vonnegut drives his agenda. Furthermore, the fact that Billy cannot neither change his past, his present, nor alter the future seems to be the proposition that Vonnegut uses to make an ultimatum about life7. Vonnegut has the antiwar attitude that life is like a simple, pointless ode that many suffer with it for a cause that is not theirs. In this, Vonnegut seems to painfully point out the even the noblest reason that may propel a troupe to be sent to war might as well be out rightly wrong. Through Billy, life appears as a nonsensical verse that seems not to end since it continually repeats itself. For instance, when the novel-Slaughterhouse-Five begins, there is a bird’s song suggestively asking ‘poo-tee.wee?’Funny enough, at the end of the novel, Billy overhears the bird still singing the same simple, meaningless question8. Such instances are creative creations of Vonnegut to illustrate the hollowness of life. As a matter of proving his antiwar attitude, Vonnegut seems to allude that the narrative is schizophrenic hence inviting the readers to assume the role of psychologists and help turn around the insensible life that Billy has to trudge on. Therefore, one can point out that Vonnegut uses Billy’s ability to traverse in time as a device to evoke a wide range of scenes from his life, all because Vonnegut harbors an antiwar attitude. Moreover, in his antiwar attitude, Vonnegut illustrates the idea of death and time as part of the cataclysms of war. Looking at the way he presents Billy life through the scenes, one wishes that there could always be that chance to travel through time and correct every dim-witted mistake that one may have delved into9. The same thing seems to happen, as Billy cannot comprehend his future as the effect of war bites on him. It would be Billy’s wish to zoom the future and see what it holds for him, but all this is an illusion created by Vonnegut creative10. However, all this time travel ends up unyielding for Billy. He is unstuck in time where one could tress him bouncing back and forth. The oscillation he encounters between his past, present and the future appears a roller coaster that Vonnegut plays with in order to prove time as both senseless and a numbing thing to someone under the impact of war. From Billy’s life on Tralfamadore, and Vonnegut’s presentation of the novel in a schizophrenic structure implies that time is nothing but a metaphor for the human tendency to escape the unpleasant reality of death11. Vonnegut stresses the issues of death and time as one can actually grasp the inability of Billy to control time travel. For instance, circumstances force Billy to relive again and again some of the most painful parts of his life. For example, looking at Edgar Derby senseless execution by the Germans for just stealing a teapot, his wartime father figure, as well as Valencia, his wife, who dies accidentally from carbon monoxide corrosion after her car damages its exhaust pipe through accident demonstrates the mystery of time. It is the creative nature of Vonnegut to deploy a combination of dark humor and irony throughout the novel, Slaughterhouse-Five. It helps in realizing the horrors of war as well as the absurd situation that arises with war. In conclusion, as a part of his antiwar attitude, Vonnegut expects everyone to come into reality that one has to accept things as they happen since at no one time it would be possible to alter what is inevitable12. Therefore, Billy Pilgrim is not just another time travelling man, who is kidnapped by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore and put in their zoo, but also rather a mainstream that Vonnegut uses to illuminate the rampaging and the costly effect of war13. Vonnegut succeeds through Billy’s role in staging his antiwar agenda and the catastrophes that accompany it. Work cited Bloom, Harold. Kurt Vonneguts Slaughterhouse Five. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2001. Print. Schatt, Stanley. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 2006. Print. Snodgrass, Mary E. Slaughterhouse Five: Kurt Vonnegut. Jacksonville, IL: Perma-Bound, 2009. Print. Vonnegut, Kurt, and Ethan Hawke. Slaughterhouse-five. New York: Caedmon/HarperCollinsPublishers, 2003. Sound recording. Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse-five, Or, the Childrens Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death. London: Vintage, 2003. Print. Schneider, Markus. Kurt Vonneguts "slaughterhouse-Five" As Historiographic Metafiction. S.l.: Grin Verlag, 2011. Print. Read More

The experience he encounters with the creatures of Tralfamadore and the bombing of Dresden are the consequences that Kurt’s novel, Slaughterhouse-Five emphasizes. Nothing explains the trauma of war like Billy’s suicidal emotions as seen during most of the novel as he even finds it challenging to connect with almost anyone on earth. However, the fictional planet Tralfamadore seems as the only way of solace and a coping mechanism for Billy in order to break out from the rampaging effects of war.

As a soldier with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Billy, struggles a lot in expressing his feelings and live in his reality6. At such a point, one would credit Vonnegut for explicitly lifting the lid on what normally comes after a war is over. The way Vonnegut focuses on Billy’s psyche more than the firebombing of Dresden illustrates the writer’s concern about the psychological impact on those involved in war. Therefore, Billy is part of the soldiers who feel lost and detached from the society as the ability of war in dehumanizing an individual becomes the conduit through which Vonnegut drives his agenda.

Furthermore, the fact that Billy cannot neither change his past, his present, nor alter the future seems to be the proposition that Vonnegut uses to make an ultimatum about life7. Vonnegut has the antiwar attitude that life is like a simple, pointless ode that many suffer with it for a cause that is not theirs. In this, Vonnegut seems to painfully point out the even the noblest reason that may propel a troupe to be sent to war might as well be out rightly wrong. Through Billy, life appears as a nonsensical verse that seems not to end since it continually repeats itself.

For instance, when the novel-Slaughterhouse-Five begins, there is a bird’s song suggestively asking ‘poo-tee.wee?’Funny enough, at the end of the novel, Billy overhears the bird still singing the same simple, meaningless question8. Such instances are creative creations of Vonnegut to illustrate the hollowness of life. As a matter of proving his antiwar attitude, Vonnegut seems to allude that the narrative is schizophrenic hence inviting the readers to assume the role of psychologists and help turn around the insensible life that Billy has to trudge on.

Therefore, one can point out that Vonnegut uses Billy’s ability to traverse in time as a device to evoke a wide range of scenes from his life, all because Vonnegut harbors an antiwar attitude. Moreover, in his antiwar attitude, Vonnegut illustrates the idea of death and time as part of the cataclysms of war. Looking at the way he presents Billy life through the scenes, one wishes that there could always be that chance to travel through time and correct every dim-witted mistake that one may have delved into9.

The same thing seems to happen, as Billy cannot comprehend his future as the effect of war bites on him. It would be Billy’s wish to zoom the future and see what it holds for him, but all this is an illusion created by Vonnegut creative10. However, all this time travel ends up unyielding for Billy. He is unstuck in time where one could tress him bouncing back and forth. The oscillation he encounters between his past, present and the future appears a roller coaster that Vonnegut plays with in order to prove time as both senseless and a numbing thing to someone under the impact of war.

From Billy’s life on Tralfamadore, and Vonnegut’s presentation of the novel in a schizophrenic structure implies that time is nothing but a metaphor for the human tendency to escape the unpleasant reality of death11. Vonnegut stresses the issues of death and time as one can actually grasp the inability of Billy to control time travel. For instance, circumstances force Billy to relive again and again some of the most painful parts of his life. For example, looking at Edgar Derby senseless execution by the Germans for just stealing a teapot, his wartime father figure, as well as Valencia, his wife, who dies accidentally from carbon monoxide corrosion after her car damages its exhaust pipe through accident demonstrates the mystery of time.

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