Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five

Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut is a well known American author. Most of his pieces of writing were written in the 1950s, 1960s and in the early 1970s. Vonnegut writes a lot from personal experiences and in most of his books he references his experiences. He is well known for, but not limited to, his famous novels. He also has a handful of well known short stories. One of his biggest, most famous books that he wrote is titled Slaughterhouse Five. Kurt Vonnegut’s style uses many techniques to develop the concept of theme in his novels. He does a great job of helping his readers understand and feel the mood of his stories while they are reading his pieces of writing.

1.Background of Author

As stated in the introduction, Kurt Vonnegut was an American

writer. “Kurt Vonnegut was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on November 11, 1922”(www.albany.edu). Vonnegut was born and raised in the Eastern part of the country. Being an American writer helped his readers in the US connect to him being that he is one of them. “Vonnegut served in World War II and was captured during the Battle of the Bulge” (www.albany.edu). He served in World War 2 like many of the young men in America did. This also helps his readers connect to him since before he was a writer he was a normal civilian who had served his country. Being a prisoner of war helps inspire a lot of his pieces of writing. “After returning from the war Vonnegut attended the University of Chicago as a graduate student in anthropology.”(www.albany.edu). Before writing his books and after serving in the war he was a college student. He studied human culture as well as the changes and evolution of the cultures. “After spending much of two years at the writer's workshop at the University of Iowa, teaching one course each term, Vonnegut was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for research in Germany” (Farlex). As it states here he also taught earlier in his life. He did a lot of research in Germany and even received an award for it.
2. Style
Vonnegut’s style of writing was very unique due to his life experiences. “Vonnegut said he was determined to write about war without romanticizing it” (Tom Vitale). Most of his writings were centered about war. He wanted to write about war without making it seem glorious or needed. He himself was not a big fan of the wars. “The central theme in Vonnegut's fiction from the 1960s is the irrationality of governments and the senseless destruction of war” (Tom Vitale). His novels and short stories tell of the destruction that is caused by war. Vonnegut felt that war caused unnecessary damage and that the government did not rationalize the wars because they couldn’t be fully rationalized. “There are no villains in Vonnegut's novels, and he fully recognizes the ambiguous connection between agent and victim” (www.faculty.atu.edu). Vonnegut does not create villians in his novels. He feels that there aren’t “bad guys” in the wars just people fighting under misguided authority. “Thus, in one of the novel's many biblical allusions he sympathizes with Lot's wife who looks back at the destruction she is escaping before being turned to stone” (www.faculty.atu.edu). Another part of his style involves making references to the Bible. He uses biblical references to help create an understanding for his readers by giving them another way to connect to his writings.
3. Famous Pieces
Kurt Vonnegut is well recognized by many readers for many pieces of writing, including multiple short stories and a handful of novels. “His first novel, Player Piano, took on corporate culture and was published in 1952” (A&E Television Networks). His first novel, Player Piano, was published in the early 1950s. It tells the story of an unemployed working class and the struggles they had been through. “Vonnegut's second and third novels, The Sirens of Titan (1959) and Mother Night (1961), increased his popularity among a small but dedicated following” (www.albany.edu). There was a seven year gap between the publishing of his first and second novels however only a two year gap between his second and third. With the release of his second and third books he began to gain popularity. His fanbase at this time was small but growing steadily. “With the publication of his fourth novel, Cat's Cradle (1963), Vonnegut began to draw serious critical attention and broader popular appeal” (www.albany.edu). His fourth novel was his catalyst into being one of the most well known American writers of his time. “A collection of Vonnegut's short fiction was published in 1961, under the title Canary in a Cathouse. All but one of those twelve stories were later included in Welcome to the Monkey House, published in 1968” (Meghan Joyce Tozer). His short stories were big hits and was a huge reason for his fame. Vonnegut received a lot of attention from his many short stories. Vonnegut has written many novels and short stories that have made him so well known across literature; however, none of his novels compared to his most famous Slaughterhouse Five.
4. Background of Slaughterhouse five
Slaughterhouse Five has a lot of background to it being written. “ Vonnegut's first-hand experiences of this, one of the darkest episodes in human history, would later provide the basis for his most influential work, Slaughterhouse Five” (www.albany.edu). Him being a part of the war influenced and inspired him to write his most famous piece of writing. “Vonnegut was one of a group of American prisoners of war to survive the attack in an underground slaughterhouse meat locker used by the Germans as an ad hoc detention facility” (www.litlovers.com). Kurt Vonnegut was captured during war and held as a prisoner. Not too many prisoners made it back safely to America. Being one of the few prisoners of war to make it back, and being the skilled writer he is, Vonnegut was able to tell of the experiences they went through in his book. "There were too many corpses to bury. So instead the Germans sent in troops with flamethrowers. All these civilians' remains were burned to ashes" (www.litlovers.com). Vonnegut had first hand experience with the complete brutality that came with fighting in a war. He witnessed bodies being burned and mass amounts of dead soldiers as well as civilians. Each experience he went through went into the writing of his book. “Vonnegut's outrage over Dresden was as much a result of the lack of attention given to this event as it was to the bloodshed” (www.faculty.atu.edu). Vonnegut was clearly enraged by everything that he had gone through. The fact that the events in Dresden had gone unrecognized is one of the factors that led him to writing Slaughterhouse Five. He wanted the dreadful events that occured to be known by the public.
5. Literary Analysis
Slaughterhouse Five is a novel that tells the story of how brutal and destructive war can be.

It is specifically about the events that occured in Dresden during world war 2. The book switches back and forth between time periods as the main character, Billy Pilgrim, has flashbacks and memories of the war experiences he was involved in. “The central and unifying event in the novel is the firebombing and complete destruction of Dresden during World War II” (Trent Lorcher). The main focus of the novel is how the bombing of the city completely destroyed it. It tells of how lives were made hell for the families that survived. “Their wood had been consumed, and their stones had crashed down, had tumbled against one another until they locked at last in low and graceful curves. "It was like the moon," said Billy Pilgrim” (Vonnegut 179). Billy Pilgrim describes his experience in Dresden as a unique one. The readers of the book can understand by reading the destruction that went on. "The nicest veterans in Schenectady, I thought, the kindest and funniest ones, the ones who hated war the most, were the ones who'd really fought." (Vonnegut). The book shows the evilness that is displayed in war. The ones who hate war the most are the ones who have been a part of one. Vonnegut uses his fictional character Billy Pilgrim to expose that to his readers. Throughout the book as Billy tells of the war, the more he tells the worse it seems. His life struggles post war, though fictional, are used to represent reality of many soldiers. ” "Poo-tee-weet" - The indecipherable response to the destruction of Dresden symbolizes Vonnegut's claim that nothing sensible can be said about a massacre” (Trent Lorcher). The phrase “poo-tee-weet” are the last words in the novel. The phrase itself sums up Vonnegut’s message he was trying to get through to his readers. Mass killings of soldiers and civilians can not be justified. It does not make sense to have that much destruction and can never be

justified.
Throughout his writings Kurt Vonnegut tells of many personal experiences. He disguises his experiences using fictional characters. He is very well known and recognized by many readers for his many short stories and novels. The American writer had completed most of his works between the 1950s and early 1970s. One of his best, most well known pieces of writing is his novel Slaughterhouse Five. His style of writing created theme in his novels using many techniques. Those techniques helped him become the skilled and known writer that he was.

Works Cited
“Kurt Vonnegut.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 22 May 2017,
www.biography.com/people/kurt-vonnegut-9520329.
Kurt Vonnegut. faculty.atu.edu/cbrucker/Vonnegut.html. Accessed 2018.
“Kurt Vonnegut.” The Free Dictionary, Farlex,
encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Kurt%20Vonnegut.
Kurt Vonnegut. www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/vonnegutkurt.html. Accessed
2018,
“Slaughterhouse Five Literary Analysis: Slaughterhouse Five Themes.” Bright Hub
Education,Trent Lorcher17Jan.2012, www.brighthubeducation.com/homework-help-literature/68662-slaughterhouse-five-themes/.
Slaughterhouse-Five (Vonnegut).
www.litlovers.com/reading-guides/13-fiction/8611-slaughterhouse-five-vonnegut.
Accessed 2018.
Vitale, Tom. “Kurt Vonnegut: Still Speaking To The War Weary.” NPR, NPR, 31 May 2011,
www.npr.org/2011/05/31/136823289/kurt-vonnegut-still-speaking-to-the-war-weary.
Vonnegut, Kurt, et al. “Kurt Vonnegut's Short Stories Bibliography.” Meghan Joyce Tozer
GradeSaver: Getting You the Grade,
www.gradesaver.com/kurt-vonnegut-short-stories/study-guide/bibliography.