Slaughterhouse five is a peculiar book to say the least. The semi-autobiographical account by Kurt Vonnegut about his experiences in relation to the Second World War, and in particular the firebombing of Dresden, centers on Billy Pilgrim: an American soldier who during several points in the novel becomes un-stuck in time. Using this plot device, Vonnegut is able to jump around in the life of Billy Pilgrim from his birth to his death, so that, by the end of the novel, you have an incredibly disjointed account of his entire life. This narrative style is much more than a gimmick used to tell a story in an original way. The disjointed aspect of the story, as well as the strange encounters that Billy has with the Tralfamadorians (aliens who kidnap him as well as accidentally, but knowingly, cause the end of the universe in the future) and his ultimate assassination by Paul Lazzaro many years after the latter threatens his life, lead to a sense of both chaos and incredible order. Every last detail that is mentioned in the part of the story that takes place during and right after World War II reappears in some other way in another aspect of Billy's life. This strange unity in unconnected events creates an ethereal aspect in regards to the novel, which, I believe is one of the ways that Vonnegut tries to convey the seeming surrealness of war. This book was written by Vonnegut as a way to process the horrors he saw during the Second World War, however, it has become much more than that. Through the viewpoint of Billy Pilgrim, we can experience the bizarreness that is war, and, hopefully come to appreciate the horrors that come with it. |
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