Underlying Themes Unveiled In SlaughterhouseFive Essay Research

Underlying Themes Unveiled In Slaughterhouse-Five Essay, Research Paper

Underlying Themes Unveiled in Slaughterhouse-Five

Born in 1922, a contemporary novelist named Kurt Vonnegut has achieved great success as a writer in modern society. He got his start in writing during 1948 by contributing his time and efforts to the Shortridge High School student newspaper, the Daily Echo. While attending Cornell University in 1940, Kurt worked on the school.s Daily Sun. He joined the U.S. Army two years later. In 1947, Vonnegut worked for the General Electric Corporation as a research laboratory publicist. This job was obviously not what he wanted to do forever, so he decided to leave and devote his full time to writing in 1950. He published Slaughterhouse-Five in 1969.

Slaughterhouse-Five, also known as The Children.s Crusade, A Duty Dance with Death, deceivingly appears to be a simplistic story after reading the opening chapter. It is a personal novel about the author, Kurt Vonnegut, and his struggles and experiences during World War II and how they impacted his life. Upon reading into the latter chapters of the novel, you can see that the first impression of the book.s content is defunct because cleverly intermittent themes, contrasts, and morals can be identified. Through a simple man named Billy Pilgrim, Vonnegut disguises a lecture against war and an acceptance of death.

The story begins with a warning that the novel was hard for Vonnegut to create. .This one is a failure., he writes, .since it was written by a pillar of salt. (Vonnegut 22). In the story, we find that Billy idolizes an unpopular science-fiction writer named Kilgore Trout. Trout.s unpopularity parallels with Vonnegut.s own humble perception of his abilities. Just as Trout does, Vonnegut keeps writing his works even though he feels as though they are failures. Due to his humble nature, he tells the reader from the beginning how the story opens and concludes. This allows the reader to decide whether or not to read the book. Vonnegut also teaches his own religious moral beliefs through his humbleness.

One night a spaceship captures Billy and takes him back to their planet Tralfamadore. While Billy is there, they teach him and the reader that war and death are inevitable and should be accepted. They serve as a surrogate God proclaiming that fate is real, and it cannot be changed. Billy learns from them that when a person dies, they only look as though they are dead, but they are still very much alive in the past. The Tralfamadorians also teach that we should not be proud, a sin associated with the Christian belief. They tell Billy that Earth is just a minute part of the large universe and we should not take ourselves too seriously. He reminds the readers not to think too highly of ourselves as he does through continually humbling his work. Vonnegut teaches that war is stupid and we should just accept that it happens and go on with our lives. His personal views on war issues come out through the Tralfamadorians. The subtitle of the book, The Children.s Crusade, A Duty Dance With Death, accuses soldiers of war being innocent children that have an obligation, or duty, to go to war, the .dance of death.. He mentions that the soldiers in Dresden were baby-faced and he rarely ever had to shave.

Vonnegut uses Billy Pilgrim to mask himself in order to get his messages across without turning readers away with unentertaining lectures. He attempts to get his readers to accept the fact that death is inevitable and we must not fear the end, for this is the life lesson that he has come to realize for himself. Vonnegut invites readers to open their minds and to view new ways to perceive our own lives through his wit and humor; however, he does not force his own beliefs and ideas. One of the various echoes throughout Slaughterhouse-Five is the prayer .God grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change.. (Vonnegut 60, 209). Readers are invited to reconcile themselves with death through the religious themes that are presented in this book. Vonnegut offers many new ideas to explore through fantasy, religion, science, and human experience. The mere concept of time is yet another theme that is mentioned to capture the audience.s curiosity.

One of the main themes of the novel is the .bugs in the amber. which refers to the existence of the past, present, and future all intertwined together at once. Billy Pilgrim moves backward and forward through time as if time itself were a photo album. The reader is told abruptly that Billy .has come unstuck in time. (Vonnegut 23). He might be in the middle of the war in Dresden or the planet Tralfamadore and then he may be found once again in his childhood years. It begins to be questionable as to whether or not Billy is sane or if his experiences are reality. Are we humans really the .bugs in amber. that the book refers to. The phrase first appears when Billy is kidnapped by the Tralfamadorian flying saucer:

.Welcome aboard, Mr. Pilgrim,. said the loudspeaker. .Any questions..

Billy licked his lips, thought a while, inquired at last: .Why me..

.That is a very Earthling question to ask, Mr. Pilgrim. Why you. Why us for that matter. Why anything. Because this moment simply is. Have you ever seen bugs trapped in amber..

.Yes.. Billy, in fact, had a paperweight in his office, which was a blob of polish