Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five as an Antiwar Novel

Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five as an Antiwar Novel

War can affect and inspire people to many degrees. Kurt

Vonnegut was inspired by war to write Slaughterhouse-Five,

which is a unique book referred to sometimes as a science

fiction or semi-autobiographical novel. But, if facts are

inferred in the novel, like the similarity of Vonnegut to

Billy Pilgrim, facts about other characters (specifically

the Tralfamadorians), and the themes and structure of the

novel, another way of viewing ;this book can be seen that is

as an anti war piece of writing. In fact, Vonnegut

demonstrates his own antiwar sentiments throughout the

novel.

This novel's main character, Billy Pilgrim is like

Vonnegut in many ways. Kurt Vonnegut is an American novelist

from Indianapolis, Indiana, born in 1922. A very important

part of Vonnegut's life was when he served in WWII, and was

a prisoner of war (POW) in Dresden, Germany. During that

time he experienced the firebombing of Dresden, which

affected him greatly. This event had around 135,000

causalities, which is about twice the number killed in

Hiroshima by the atomic bomb (1969 Kurt Vonnegut's

Slaughterhouse-Five). Many claim that his involvement in the

war is what made him write Slaughterhouse-Five. When

Vonnegut created Billy Pilgrim, he made Billy subject to the

experience of war. In fact, Billy experiences it almost

exactly the same as Vonnegut himself had, including the

experiences of being a POW and in the firebombing of

Dresden. But in Billy's case, Vonnegut writes it with

a particular point of view, which is against war. For

example, when Vonnegut writes of the ways Billy views

things, especially in the war, he makes Billy's view

"slanted, which makes the reader perceive the war as