Vonnegut’s Illustration Of Destructiveness Of War

Slaughterhouse-Five was written by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. in 1953. Whether the book is an antiwar novel or a science fiction novel is ambiguous, but after writing this book, Vonnegut insists that it was a failure. Failure it is not according to many critics. Rather than just writing an anti-war/science fiction novel, Vonnegut wrote a tale of the trials and tribulations resulting from the complete and utter destruction of Dresden during World War II. In Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut develops the protagonist, Billy Pilgrim along with utilizing science fiction and satire to demonstrate the destructiveness of war.

Vonnegut uses satire and fiction to ironically display the destructiveness of war. In Slaughterhouse-Five, “Vonnegut comes at last in direct confrontation with his Dresden experience” (Keogh and Kislatis 172). John Somer adds, “It took him twenty three years to write his lousy little book” (222). In fact, because Vonnegut found it so difficult to write about the bombing of Dresden, “He comments on the reality of Dresden by treating the problems as fiction” (Giannone 83). One critic establishes that Vonnegut enjoys playing with fiction, using it to represent t

Vonnegut uses Billy Pilgrim to portray the damaging effects war can have on humans. Glenn Meeter states that the character Billy Pilgrim does not find meaning or purpose in life. As a result of the attack on Dresden, hunger, shock and exhaustion, one source explains that Billy does not have the will to live, and has no concern for the lives of the men around him (Keogh and Kislastis 174). “One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters” (Vonnegut 140-141). According to Festa, “…the proper response to a meaningless, cruel, and apparently doomed world is total resignation. That is Billy Pilgrim’s response…” (145). Another critic, Jerome Klintowitz adds “Atrocities are simply too large for the human imagination to grasp. As a result, people shrink away from such happenings or excuse them with nervous giggles” (29). Billy’s character goes right along with Klintowitz’s theory and chooses “total resignation” (Festa 145), rather than facing the horrors he had witnessed. Richard Giannone adds to the argument that war drastically affects humans by stating “In the course of testifying to Billy’s heartsickness and deadened spirit, the witness moves from a sense of personal responsibility to a sense of his own personal helplessness and disconnectedness” (96-97). Giannone goes on to explain that when Billy lines up his life experiences, good and bad moments have no individuality (90). Happiness arises not from inner calm and fulfillment, but rather from “external visual selection,” and by ignoring the visions that haunt him, Billy is able to gain control of them, refusing to let the visions devastate him (Giannone 90). The critic adds, “Where effects do not connect with causes, ambition, anxiety, and anger can not be felt. The mind masters death. Billy is forever ready for the shot from a high powered laser gun that kills him” (Giannone 91). To further strengthen the idea that Billy has fully acce

Some topics in this essay:
Keogh Kislatis, Richard Giannone, Edgar Derby…The, Billy Pilgrim, Keogh Kislastis, John Somer, Tim Hildebrand, Vonnegut Jr, Jerome Klintowitz, Glenn Meeter, science fiction, keogh kislatis, “so goes”, fiction novel, destructiveness war, billy pilgrim, phrase “so goes”, phrase “so, science fiction novel, tralfamadorian concept, message vonnegut, glenn meeter, destructiveness war slaughterhouse-five,