Slaughterhouse five

 

    

                                Biography of Kurt Vonnegut

•  Kurt Vonnegut's was born on November 12th of 1922 in Indiana.

• He studied in Cornell university for two years and then enlisted into the U.S army. 

• Vonnegut became a prisoner of war in the battle of bulge. He experienced a firebombing of Dresden, Germany. After he returned from the war, he married and had children. (Biography. “Kurt Vonnegut.” Biography, 20 Apr. 2021, www.biography.com/writer/kurt-vonnegut.)

Thoughts:

• a notable part of his life however that this skimmed over was when he lost both of his parents. This is important because it ties into a belief he holds, and a belief present in slaughterhouse five. that of Tralfamadore fatalism, otherwise the belief of "So it goes"

Kurt Vonnegut's career

• In the 1960's Vonnegut started his writing career making Cat's cradle, Slaughterhouse five, and Breakfast champions. 

• His novels are satirical and hold a lot of social commentary. He blends fantasy with reality, similar in fashion to Tim O'brien. 

• They both share in common how they blend those elements to tell stories, and both have lived through wars; They both differ in perspective and what exactly those experiences they had were and their toll on them as people. 

• Kurt Vonnegut experienced the second world war, and Tim O'brien lived through the Vietnam war. As the Vietnam war was happening is when Kurt Vonnegut created Slaughterhouse five,

(153) Kurt Vonnegut on Man-Eating Lampreys | Blank on Blank - YouTube

Historical Background

• Slaughterhouse five is mostly set in World War II. It was an international conflict against the axis powers and the allies. The war began when Germany invaded Poland. After this happened France and Britain declared war.                                                                                                                                  ( Royde-Smith, John Graham and Hughes, Thomas A. "World War II". Encyclopedia Britannica, 28 Feb. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-II. Accessed 29 June 2022.)

• A very crucial connection is the Battle of Bulge. In this battle in Luxembourg Billy ends up imprisoned by the Germans. This battle is famous for how brutal it was for American soldiers as nearly 100,000 soldiers died, injured, or captured.

• Another important aspect is how prisoners were treated as before the Geneva conventions declared prisoners should be treated humanely, on both sides they were trapped in war camps.

(Regeurio, Jack. “Historical Connections.” SlaughterHouse-Five, slaughterhouse5thecr3w.weebly.com/historical-connections.html. Accessed 30 June 2022.)

Slaughterhouse five literary criticism

• The novel slaughterhouse five shares a message with the things they carried in how they describe the futility of war, but the author's elaborate upon this topic in a different way. 

• In the things they carried, war is cruel and senseless because of all the lives it takes and all the people it ruins, but in Slaughterhouse five the war is senseless and there is nothing to say about it. In the last page, quote "After a massacre everything is quiet, except for the birds." 

• This symbolizing how meaningless war is fundamentally. it is a very important message

• A significant criticism for this novel is how jumbled up the storytelling feels

•  Kurt Vonnegut doesn't tell a story in a typical chronological order, instead writing in Billy's time travelling powers and telling the story through a series of events.

Thoughts:

• Billy Pilgrim's passivity and lack of agency made him feel dull. 

• Billy Pilgrim isn't like a typical protagonist from a novel as protagonists moves the story, but the story moves Billy everywhere, and at any time period. 

• Although a protagonist from any other novel is idealistic and not everyone has agency of their own lives. "So, it goes"

Themes and tones of Slaughterhouse five

• The tone of Slaughterhouse five can best be described as comical, and yet morbid.

•  The book sometimes dips into more absurd aspects of the novel like aliens and time travel, but it isn't facetious enough to detract from the hard-hitting reality of war, and the events that happen in the novel.

• A very major theme of Slaughterhouse five is war and its senselessness. 

• the thousands of deaths, that are caused. How worthless it is to try to understand war. This message is made because the Author Kurt Vonnegut hold these beliefs and want to share them through the novel, and this message is why it has stood the test of time. 

• Another important theme is ambivalence and passivity. The protagonist Billy let's events happen to him, and he has practically no agency.

Devices and Narrative techniques used in Slaughterhouse five

• Kurt Vonnegut when writing the novel struggled on how to tell his story, as there were details that he had begun to forget, and that unlike a typical story structure with a rising conflict, climax, and a resolution. He only had conflicts with no solution

• To solve this Kurt Vonnegut drew outlines of the characters. He very explicitly did not want to glorify war in any sort of way. Which means he cannot create a brave protagonist that moves the story

• Because of these guidelines this also meant he could not write the bad guys to just be monsters as he learned a lesson in anthropology that "Nobody was ridiculous, or bad, or disgusting". So, he had to make the other side comprehensible.

Thoughts: Although it is good that Kurt Vonnegut understands not everything is black and white, especially in war. It lessens the severity of the atrocities of the Nazis by not condemning them. Kurt Vonnegut chose to not romanticize nor demonize any side of war. As it's part of his philosophy that there is nothing to say about war.

Comparing the messages between Slaughterhouse five and the things they carried:

• Though briefly mentioned before, these are important thoughts to touch upon on the messages both these novels convey. 

• Kurt Vonnegut himself is ambivalent to death, as reflected upon Slaughterhouse five and what Tralfamadore Fatalism is all about. It is not a soothing or emotional sentiment as it just acceptance that people die. The wars will occur. It is almost pessimistic, this attitude of passivity and lack of agency.

•  Yet it's a very real sentiment considering what not just Kurt Vonnegut went through in life, but it reflects many of our own current feelings in the state of the world right now. 

• In the things they carried, death is not treated with ambivalence. When the soldiers die their deaths linger, and you feel the weight of losing somebody. This difference in tone is what separates 

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Bibliography:

Biography. “Kurt Vonnegut.” Biography, 20 Apr. 2021, www.biography.com/writer/kurt-vonnegut.
Royde-Smith, John Graham and Hughes, Thomas A.. "World War II". Encyclopedia Britannica, 28 Feb. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-II. Accessed 29 June 2022.

Regeurio, Jack. “Historical Connections.” SlaughterHouse-Five, slaughterhouse5thecr3w.weebly.com/historical-connections.html. Accessed 30 June 2022.

Marketing Access Pass. “What Color Is Azure? About Azure Color.” Marketing Access Pass | Custom Web Design Solutions, 26 May 2020, marketingaccesspass.com/what-color-is-azure.