Slaughterhouse Five By Kurt Vonnegut: Literary Analysis

In Slaughterhouse Five written by Kurt Vonnegut, war and life are two very important aspects. The war that is taking place during this time period in Slaughterhouse Five is World War II. Being in the war can affect many different people in different ways for the good, or for the bad. The war has an affect on two men named Billy Pilgrim, and Eliot Rosewater.

Billy Pilgrim is a chaplain’s assistant. A chaplain in the war’s job is to minister to military personnel, and families working for the military.. Billy Pilgrim’s past comes back for them to relive. As Billy is trying to “reinvent himself” he finds himself frolicking in his childhood at the Grand Canyon (Vonnegut 112). Billy was twelve years old when his mother and father took him on vacation to the Grand Canyon. Billy hated the Grand Canyon is was for certain that he would fall into the Bright Angel Point (Vonnegut 12). Approximately ten days after visiting the Grand Canyon, Billy visited Carlsbad Caverns. “The Caverns had been discovered by a cowboy who saw a huge cloud of bats come out of a hole in the ground” (Vonnegut 113). When

the ranger turned the lights out at the Caverns, Billy was unaware of if he was “still alive or not,” (Vonnegut 114). When Billy went from total dark to total light, he began to find himself in the war again, and then back to the delousing stage.
Billy Pilgrim also finds himself in many other places such as the zoo, other hospitals, prisons, and houses which all represent captivity. While in these places, Billy is confined and not allowed to do as he pleases, or reinvent his universe. While visiting these places, Billy seems to be very passive. He lets others do what they want to do, and he also accepts what others do without making any changes. During most of the prison camps, Billy is strapped to the bed after being given the moriphine. Billy was unable to control this, and began having dreams of giraffes in a zoo. Billy became a giraffe, and was accepted by other giraffes as one of their own kind. Billy’s crazy instincts and thoughts seem to follow him everywhere he goes.
Eliot Rosewater is a former ex Captain of World War II.

He is at the veteran hospital in New York next to Billy Pilgrim. Rosewater’s past also comes back for him to relive. Eliot Rosewater has had a drinking problem, which landed him in the hospital. Eliot mistook a 14 year old for a German soldier. Now at this point, Rosewater has found life meaningless. The war has made both Eliot and Billy hate themselves. Billy and Eliot have a hard time accepting themselves, and accepting the fact that they cannot change who they are, or their past. As Kurt Vonnegut quotes, “There is no beginning, no middle, no end, no suspense, no moral, no causes, no effect,” (Vonnegut 112). As Eliot Rosewater, and Billy Pilgrim try to “reinvent themselves and their universe,” Eliot Rosewater thinks he has found the perfect cure. The cure to “reinvent themselves” are science fiction novels. (Vonnegut

128).
Every place that Billy visits, he realizes that he is unable to get away from himself. Billy is unable to overcome his own craziness. While in the hospital, Billy goes into depth into his childhood, and other places he has visited previously before being admitted into the hospital. Every story Billy tells and relives, he is in the same place which is unhappy with himself. Billy is so intrigued with his past, and things that happened before, which makes it very hard for him to focus on reinventing himself.