Kurt Vonnegut describes his World War II experiences through the main character in his novel, Slaughterhouse-five. Vonnegut was one of the prisoners of World War II, and saw many ghastly things while being a prisoner. In his novel he portrays himself through the main character Billy Pilgrim. He also tells us all of his experiences during the war. Vonnegut reveals to the impact of Dresden.
In, Slaughterhouse-Five Vonnegut reveals himself through the main character of his novel Billy Pilgrim. According to Peter Freese, “This sounds suspiciously like the biography of a man who develops schizophrenia…” (76). He was referring to how Billy Pilgrim the main character acts after a plane crash in the book. Billy was very jumpy and acted strange in the after affects of this plane crash which killed everyone but him. This is very closely related to how someone with schizophrenia would act.
Many things in this book hint how closely related Vonnegut and Pilgrim are. They had the same birthday and death date (75). This shows how close they really were. According to Peter Freese, Vonnegut fictionalized his story by making Billy an optician from New York (75). Although they are very close, according to Charles B. Harris, “Billy Pilgrim, the protagonist of Slaughterhouse- Five, does not even appear in this chapter. The focus is on Vonnegut, the author- as- character” (272). He was referring to the first chapter, and that and that Billy did not even appear till the second chapter.
In so many ways Vonnegut was in the book even if it was not direct. As said before in the book Billy was very sick after he was involved in a plane crash. That seems very coincidental, due to the fact that in real life Vonnegut developed schizophrenia. According to Charles B. Harris “… the novel’s main character is not Billy Pilgrim, but Vonnegut” (272).
Not only does Vonnegut put himself in his novel but he describes his war experiences in the book as well. He spent much time as a prisoner in the war, and he describes that and more than that. He was trying to write a book about the bombing of Dresden, but It turns out he was writing an anti-war book. According to Charles B. Harris “… the novel is not a conventional anti-war novel at all, but an experimental novel of considerable complexity” (Harris 272). He meant that there was much complexity in the novel, which was not focused on anti-war at all.
As a prisoner he had been locked up in slaughterhouses. This is true because Vonnegut says in his book, “… the slaughterhouse where we had been locked up at night as a prisoner of war” (Vonnegut 1). In the book Billy was in the war and was captured, then like Vonnegut was put in one of these slaughterhouses. This was just one of his experiences shared with us.
Throughout his novel he shows the destruction of war. According to Barry Chabot, “… during the course of the novel Vonnegut makes it emblematic of the destruction wrought by war generally” (2). Chabot was referring to the fact that Vonnegut made it clear what the war was doing and how it was affecting everything around it. Also according to Barry Chabot he says, “It is, we are told, Vonnegut’s attempt to recount and come to terms with the trauma of witnessing the destruction of Dresden while a prisoner of war” (2). Chabot was trying to say that Vonnegut was trying to get over the trauma of being a prisoner.
It was almost like Vonnegut was angry at the war or was angry at being a prisoner. According to Barry Chabot, “The extent to which death such comes to replace human murderousness as the especial regrets of Slaughterhouse- Five must qualify Vonnegut’s rage…” (3). Chabot thinks that throughout the book Vonnegut is trying to show his rage and all of his disgust at the war.
Vonnegut also shows how much death the war caused throughout the novel. According to Barry Chabot “… Vonnegut would be impervious to the stresses of events and the claims of those about him” (5). Chabot says that Vonnegut tells us everything that happened to him during the war. Chabot also says, “Vonnegut never lets us forget about death in Slaughterhouse- Five” (3). He lets us know how gruesome the death of the war was. It seems like many critics think Vonnegut has trauma from the war.
In the whole book Vonnegut tries to tell about the travesty of the war. According to Charles Harris, “…the novel is less about Dresden than about the psychological impact of time, death, and uncertainly on its main character,” (272). Vonnegut witnesses much death after the bombing of Dresden. He said that the after affects were very gruesome and ghastly. This must have been a part to why he wrote this novel.
In the entirety of the novel Vonnegut reveals many different things. All of Vonnegut’s World War II experiences were described through this novel. He portrayed himself, and his experiences through the main character of his novel. In the process he writes an unconventional anti-war book about the bombing of Dresden and all the travesties it brought. It goes to show that the experiences of war and the portrayal of oneself in a book can make a great anti- war novel and a good idea of what happened.
Works Cited
Chabot, Barry. “‘Slaughterhouse-Five’ and the Comforts of Indifference,” in Essays in Literature: Reproduced Online. 2 March 2006.
Freese, Peter. “Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five; or, How to Storify an Atrocity.” Modern Critical Views Kurt Vonnegut. Ed. Harold Bloom. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2000. 73-87.
Harris, Charles, “Slaughterhouse- Five.” Novels for Students. Ed. Diane Telegen, Kevin Hile. New York: Gale, 1998. 3:272-274.
No comments:
Post a Comment