War is seen as a universal concept that often causes discomfort and conflict in relation to civilians. As they are a worrying universal event that has occurred for many decades now, they posed questions to society about human's nature and civilization. Questions such as is humanity sane or insane? and do humans have an obsession with destruction vs creation. These questions are posed from the two anti-war texts; Dr Strangelove by Stanley Kubrick and Slaughterhouse Five written by Kurt Vonnegut.
The film Dr Strangelove or How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb is a satirical film, illustrating Kubrick's interpretation of his world at the time. It surrounds the rumours about the Soviets Union spreading communism and constructing a
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"doomsday machine" in the pacific in the 1960. The Americans had allied with the British after fearing that the Russians may press the button to the machine, thus occurring in total annihilation of earth. To civilians and our generation today the idea of one person who is able to push a button which will destroy the world sounds absurd. Can you imagine if a political leader such as Trump pressed the Doomsday machine button? Humanity's sanity or insanity can be questioned when General Buck Turgidson is stating that the government will have to choose between 20 million or 150 million people dying.
The use of exaggeration and absurdity can be linked to the high saturated light on Turgidson as he is trying to be positive about Russia being bombed and how "only 20 million people will die." The effect of the exaggeration and the high saturated lighting of the general, significantly empathizes the absurdity and irony of the situation, as he is seen speaking in a humorous way even though it is highly important. A major plot in the storyline is that the Americans B-52's cannot be recalled after being given a Code red by General Jack D. Ripper. With the use of a low angle close up shot empathizing the power of General Jack D. Ripper , it demonstrates how nothing will stop him from achieving his own personal mission of bombing the Russians. During this important and serious scene, we then hear out of the blue a casual alcoholic beverage order made by Jack D. Ripper to Captain Mandrake to make the drink, this poses the question to the audience whether humanity is sane if during a chaotic and deconstruction of the world moment they are ordering an alcoholic beverage to be …show more content…
made. Another essential question that emerges from the questioning of humanity being sane or insane is do humans have an obsession with destruction vs creation? . This question emerges from the opening scene of film where an image of B52 planes are getting ready to release bombs meanwhile pleasant romantic upbeat music is playing. The use of the non-diegetic music and high saturated lighting juxtaposes the reality of the film as war destroys our creation and empathises the theme of the civilians being innocent. Wars are often strategized by politicians, although they place "our babies" on the battlefield to destroy our creation, this idea is displayed in the theme of innocence seen both in Dr Strangelove and Slaughterhouse 5. Kubrick has composed the film to convey the importance of essential questions that should be asked in regard to humanity, nature and civilization along with addressing war and its consequences as a universal concern. Undoubtedly the questioning of humanity's sanity is evident in the anti-war novel Slaughterhouse five, written by Kurt Vonnegut, through writing his experience as a Prisoner of War in World War 2 through the character Billy Pilgrim.
Vonnegut conveys throughout the novel, the message of war being fought by those too young who do not understand why they are fighting. From analysing the novel, we can see that he is emotionally unstable and may suffer from schizophrenia as the book is structure episodically. It can also be seen in the motif of "so it goes" being said after an explanation of a violent or theme of death scene form his life. The effect of this motif and repetition is to display how he is emotionally lacks empathy and is disconnected from these scenes. This is a result of his brain injury and experiences from war, that still impact and have changed him since coming back from the war. This is evident in "And they'll be fought by babies like the babies upstairs." page 12, chapter 1 said by Mary O'Hare. The simile of the motif of babies displays how we send our children to crusade and fight for what is unknown to them when they are at the end of their happiest and innocence time of their life, which is then traumatised and destroyed by going to war. Vonnegut is posing the question whether it is sane to send our babies to the war to fight for a cause that they don't even know?, even though we know it will damage and change who they are once they step onto the
battlefield. As war causes a universal concern whether that be internal or external to the creation, it is possible that Vonnegut is illustrating how humanity is fascinated with destroying the creation and childhood innocence by starting wars, and is questioning whether this is sane or unreasonable. The repetition of 'Poo-tee-weet" throughout the novel, although in particular the quote found in chapter one page 16 "what do the birds say? All there is to say about a massacre,… 'Poo-tee-weet'?". Vonnegut uses the repetition of the bird's sound and theme of time and peace through the image of the birds after a major war event to display how time, life and the people part of the traumatic event continue living life even though our creation was built and then destroyed by humanity. Birds are symbolic of peace, new life innocence and purity. In conclusion, Vonnegut and Kubrick texts both represent the idea of absurdity of war and the concerns and tensions it causes between civilians and political leaders, as it is a universal thought that the people are fighting are too young. The questioning of humanity being sane or insane emerges from these texts as they can be reflected into society today, for example how we reject applicants for refugees, who's homes and creation has been destroyed by war.
Dr. Strangelove is a 1964 black comedy satire film about nuclear war between the USSR and the USA. It has received many awards including #26 on the American Film Institute’s top 100 movies list and a 99% favorable rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film begins with General Jack D. Ripper putting his base on high alert and ordering his bomber wing to preemptively drop nuclear bombs onto the Soviet Union. His second in command, Mandrake, tries to stop him after finding out the Pentagon ordered nothing and finds out that Ripper is insane in thinking the Soviets are trying to poison the American water supply. The Pentagon finds out and tries to stop it but they could not find the three digit code in time to stop the planes. General Turgidson recommends
Writing was the only way Vonnegut cold really explain his thoughts of hatred and discontent towards war in an indirect kind of way. An example of the violence that Vonnegut portrayed in stories, most likely from his war experiences is from “2BR02B”, “Wehling shot Dr. Hitz dead, “There’s room for one- a great big one,” he said. And then he shot Leora Duncan. “It’s only death”, he said to her as she fell. “There! Room for two.” And then he shot himself, making room for all three of his children.” What is going on in this quote is the main character is shooting the people without thought and that helps relate to Vonnegut’s experiences in war where that was the same scenario. In “Harrison Bergeron”, “It was then that Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General, came into the studio with a double-barreled ten-gauge shotgun. She fired twice, and the Emperor and
Kurt Vonnegut places his experiences and his views in the text. He begins the book by stating, “All this happened, more or less. The war parts, anyway, are pretty much true...I’ve changed all of the names.” Viewing war as a sen...
War always seems to have no end. A war between countries can cross the world, whether it is considered a world war or not. No one can be saved from the reaches of a violent war, not even those locked in a safe haven. War looms over all who recognize it. For some, knowing the war will be their future provides a reason for living, but for others the war represents the snatching of their lives without their consent. Every reaction to war in A Separate Peace is different, as in life. In the novel, about boys coming of age during World War II, John Knowles uses character development, negative diction, and setting to argue that war forever changes the way we see the world and forces us to mature rapidly.
Many people are intrigued by Kurt Vonnegut’s borderline sci-fi, anti-war book Slaughterhouse-Five, and how it has survived throughout the ages. Kurt Vonnegut is an innovative best selling, award winning author of many book such as; Cat’s Cradle, Breakfast of Champions, Slaughterhouse-Five etc.The book Slaughterhouse-Five has no beginning, middle or end past the first chapter so it is very common for Billy Pilgrim to “time bounce” from his childhood, to the war, and to his elderly years and not all in that order. Billy Pilgrim is a man that did not have the greatest luck when it came to being a soldier.For instance “He was a scrawny, untrained private with scraps for a uniform such a creature could walk through war, oblivious yet unscathed, while so many others with more appropriate attire and provisions perish”(Sparknotes Editor). Mr. Vonnegut lived through some of the events portrayed in the book Slaughterhouse-Five such as the American air raid of Dresden, Germany. On February 13-14, 1945 nearly 135,000 Germans were killed from the tragic firebombing of the city of Dresden,Germany. In the book Billy claims to have lived this tragic event several times over. Mr. Vonnegut was a soldier of the 423rd Infantry Regiment, and 106 Infantry Division and earned a Purple Heart for his service after being injured at the Battle of The Bulge (Vonnegut.com). Many soldier in our day and age that fought in WWII and after have suffered from PTSD. An estimated 7.8 percent of Americans will experience PTSD at some point in their lives, with women (10.4%) twice as likely as men (5%) to develop PTSD. About 3.6 percent of U.S. adults aged 18 to 54 (5.2 mil...
Being an anti-war novel, his book is filled with shocking events and gruesome deaths. But Vonnegut portrays death as trivial. Every time someone dies or something bad happens, the reader might think " oh my gosh, that's awful!"
Kubrick’s derisive attitudes about war and the military are influential to the style of Dr. Strangelove. The setting locations contribute to Kubrick’s sexual allegory. The male-dominated B-52 bomber represents a phallic symbol that is eager to complete its mission and empty its precious load. The circular “War Room” is illuminated with low-key lighting, with a gleaming center of attention besieged by darkness. This represents a dark, enclosed, cave-like environment, where the men conceive their major, independent decisions. In General Ripper’s office, ...
After he goes to ride the soldier, he his flung from his back and actually sees the soldier, “a face that lack a lower jaw – from upper teeth to the throat was a great red gap fringed with hanging shreds of flesh and splinters of bone.” (Bierce 44). This is the first glimpse the boy comprehends of the true devastation of war. And at this point the child has his first rational reaction,“terrified at last, ran to a tree near by, got upon the farther side of it and took a more serious view of the situation.” (Bierce 44). The author is using the childes revelation of the violence in war to introduce to his readers the devastation of
However, the books present response to war in a contrasting way. The incorporation of repetition, balance, and the idea of little control of one’s fate display parallelism between Billy Pilgrim and the soldiers of The Things They Carried while still distinguishing the existing psychological and internal contrast between them. When Billy is leading a parade in front of the Dresdeners prior to the bombing, Vonnegut
In any case, the reader encounters much dark humor in the novel. There is a sense of an embittered humor with the Tralfamadorian phrase, "So it goes," which is repeated over 100 times in the novel. John May says that Vonnegut's purpose in repeating the phrase after each statement of death is to build its meaning with each incremental refrain (Contemporary Literary Criticism 8: 530). At first, the saying can be looked upon as funny in an ironic way. However, as one reads further, the phrase becomes irritating and irreverent. The reader cannot fathom so many deaths meaning so little. According t o Wayne McGinnis, it is most likely Vonnegut's intent to cause such feelings from the reader (Contemporary Literary Criticism 5: 468). This punctuating phrase forces the reader to look at the novel's deaths one after the other.
In Slaughterhouse Five the reader is encouraged to show contempt for war and to abandon all hopes of thinking war as a place where deeds of heroism are and bravery are performed. A character in the novel, Roland Weary, seems to think the very opposite of what Vonnegut is trying to communicate in the novel. He sees war as an adventure, a time for exploration, not as a time where horrible atrocities are committed and where massacres take place. Even army personnel turn on each other. Billy Pilgrim who is being beaten by Roland Weary is saved from death, ironically, when a German patrol finds him. Another bunch of characters that seem to ‘mistake’ war as something fun is the English officers at the POW camp. In the words of Vonnegut, “they made war look stylish, reasonable and fun.” Another interesting thing that Vonnegut does is that he frequently uses the phrase “So it goes,” after every death or mention of dying in the novel. He uses the phrase very often, and after a certain amount of time, it begins to remind the reader that the reader is powerless to stop all the killing that is going on.
War in itself can affect many people in many different ways, wives take on twice the responsibility, and mothers mourn the loss of their child’s innocence. At the time of this novel there had been no research on what happens when you return from war. Kurt Vonnegut in Slaughterhouse-Five touches on how it is to deal with this mental illness before it was diagnosed as post-traumatic stress disorder. The author uses science fiction’s raw intensity to alter Billy Pilgrim’s imagination after he returns from the war. As he is a victim of this undiagnosed mental illness, he uses science fiction’s effect on him as a coping mechanism. Through the experiences of Billy Pilgrim, Kurt Vonnegut explores the powerful impact science fiction had on a vulnerable
War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, written by the talented author Chris Hedges, gives us provoking thoughts that are somewhat painful to read but at the same time are quite personal confessions. Chris Hedges, a talented journalist to say the least, brings nearly 15 years of being a foreign correspondent to this book and subjectively concludes how all of his world experiences tie together. Throughout his book, he unifies themes present in all wars he experienced first hand. The most important themes I was able to draw from this book were, war skews reality, dominates culture, seduces society with its heroic attributes, distorts memory, and supports a cause, and allures us by a constant battle between death and love.
Slaughterhouse-Five displays many themes. However, there is a dispute as to whether the book is an anti-war novel or not. Slaughterhouse-Five, the character Kurt Vonnegut explains to Mary O’Hare, is intended to be an anti-war novel, and he says that it shall also be called The Children’s Crusade because of the effect it had on young men who fought in the war. Slaughterhouse-Five is an anti-war novel because Vonnegut, the character, says it is in the first chapter, because it depicts the terrible long-term effects the war has on Billy, and because it exposes war's devastating practices.
Earnest Hemmingway once said "Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime." (Ernest Hemingway: A Literary Reference) War is a gruesome and tragic thing and affects people differently. Both Vonnegut and Hemmingway discus this idea in their novels A Farewell to Arms and Slaughterhouse Five. Both of the novels deal not only with war stories but other genres, be it a science fiction story in Vonnegut’s case or a love story in Hemingway’s. Despite all the similarities there are also very big differences in the depiction of war and the way the two characters cope with their shocking and different experiences. It is the way someone deals with these tragedies that is the true story. This essay will evaluate how the main characters in both novels deal with their experiences in different ways.