Billy Pilgrim's Slaughterhouse-Five

Death. When one thinks of World War II the aforementioned is all that comes to mind. Looking back, WWII was a point in time where the human race as a whole reached new levels of mass destruction. One thinks of the holocaust, pearl harbor, and or the atomic bombs dropped on Japan, but the bombing of Dresden is often an event that fades in with the others despite its massive death toll. The air raid conducted by the Allied forces, which occurred in 1945 Germany, caused the fatalities of 130,000, each with their own story, their own family, and a promising future that was demolished in an instant. Those who were lucky enough to survive, however, did not leave unscathed. They spent months, years, or even a lifetime in attempt to cope with the

One amongst these survivors was Kurt Vonnegut, an American war veteran who survived the Dresden bombing as a result of being held as a prisoner of war underground in a Slaughterhouse, hence he wrote a book entitled Slaughterhouse-Five, a story in which Billy Pilgrim survives the bombing of Dresden and faces challenges in his life after the

Vonnegut states it best; “It is so short and jumbled and jangled… because there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre. Everybody is supposed to be dead, to never say anything or want anything ever again. Everything is supposed to be very quiet after a massacre, and it always is, except for the birds. And what do the birds say? All there is to say about a massacre, things like ‘Poo-tee-weet?’”(13). As a means of representing Billy’s PTSD and resulting mental condition, the book had been written in achronological order. Consequently, the novel is best understood when placed back in chronological order. Billy Pilgrim was born in New York in 1922, and had a relatively normal childhood, and plans on becoming an optometrist till he is drafted to fight in the Battle of the Bulge in Germany. Unfortunately, Pilgrim, and some of his comrades are captured, and taken to work for the enemy in Dresden, Germany. However, one night, allied forces decide to carpet bomb the city, yet thankfully Billy and his friends, who were hiding in the meatlocker of the Slaughterhouse that they were held captive in, remained safe. Yet, the hardship did not end for Billy. For several days Billy was forced to evacuate dead bodies from the rubble. Finally after several days of his morbid work, Russian forces finally come to liberate the city, and Billy