The novel “Slaughterhouse-Five“, written by Kurt Vonnegut in 1969, is
about Billy Pilgrim, a man, who has “become unstuck in time”, which means that
he travels through different periods of his life. The novel starts with an
autobiographical part, which is about Kurt Vonnegut’s life after the Second
World War.
In the following parts Vonnegut writes about Billy Pilgrim. The reader
learns that as a young adult Billy Pilgrim is a soldier in the Second World War
just like Kurt Vonnegut was. He survives this war with the help of other soldiers
and later on he settles as a bourgeois civilian with his wife Valencia Merble and
his two children.
Kurt Vonnegut tells the reader that in the time of the Second World War
Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time, and has been kidnapped by aliens from
a planet called Tralfamadore. The reader gets to know Billy Pilgrim's life story as
well as his personality. As a round character Billy is shown in different situations
with all his emotions and thoughts. Vonnegut describes traumatic events in
Billy’s childhood and also emotionally important events in his grown-up life, like
his 18th wedding anniversary.
After the awful situations Billy witnessed in the Second World War, for
instance the Dresden bombing, and an airplane crash he survives, Billy says he
was kidnapped by a flying saucer. This could be a sign of Billy Pilgrim suffering
from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which will be examined in the
following text.
Although the novel contains sad and cruel topics, the tone of the novel is
generally sarcastic and unemotional. Billy Pilgrim's life and the literary style of
“Slaughterhouse-Five“ inevitably lead to the question: In How Far Does Kurt
Vonnegut's Depiction of the Protagonists in “Slaughterhouse-Five”
Contribute to the Novel Being an Anti-War Novel?
Since Vonnegut's publishers call Slaughterhouse-Five “one of the world's
great anti-war books” and Vonnegut himself promised his friend Mary O'Hare to
write an anti-war novel, these statements will be examined in this essay.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Protagonist and Author
2.1 “A Filthy Flamingo”: Billy Pilgrim
2.2 Kurt Vonnegut’s Life
2.3 Bombs and Battles: The Historical Background
2.4 Science-Fiction: Kidnapped by Tralfamadorians
2.5 Billy Pilgrim: “Unstuck in Time”
3. Literary Analysis
3.1 Point of View: “That was I. That was me”
3.2 Symbolism: Tweeting Birds and Ivory Feet
3.3 Humor: Funny and Sad at the Same Time
4. Characters in “Slaughterhouse-Five” - 17 “There won't be a part for Frank Sinatra or John Wayne”
4.1 Roland Weary: A clumsy Tweedledee
4.2 Edgar Derby: A Tragic Hero
4.3 Paul Lazzaro
4.4 Valencia Merble
4.5 Howard W. Campell Jr
5. “A Duty-Dance with Death”
5.1 The Absurdity of War
5.2 “Slaughterhouse-Five“ as an Anti-War Novel
6. Conclusion
7. Works Cited
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