Vonneguts Slaughterhouse-Five as an Antiwar Novel :: Slaughterhouse-Five Essays

Vonneguts Slaughterhouse-Five as an Antiwar Novel War can affect and inspire people to many degrees. KurtVonnegut was inspired by war to write Slaughterhouse-Five,which is a unique book referred to sometimes as a sciencefiction or semi-autobiographical novel. But, if facts areinferred in the novel, like the similarity of Vonnegut to billy Pilgrim, facts about other characters (specificallythe Tralfamadorians), and the themes and structure of thenovel, another way of viewing this book can be seen that isas an anti war piece of writing. In fact, Vonnegutdemonstrates his own antiwar sentiments throughout thenovel. This novels main character, Billy Pilgrim is likeVonnegut in many ways. Kurt Vonnegut is an American novelistfrom Indianapolis, Indiana, born in 1922. A very importantpart of Vonneguts life was when he served in WWII, and wasa prisoner of war (POW) in Dresden, Germany. During thattime he experienced the firebombing of Dresden, whichaffected him greatly. This event had around 135,000causalities, which is about twice the matter killed inHiroshima by the atomic bomb (1969 Kurt VonnegutsSlaughterhouse-Five). Many claim that his involvement in thewar is what made him write Slaughterhouse-Five. WhenVonnegut created Billy Pilgrim, he made Billy subject to theexperience of war. In fact, Billy experiences it almostexactly the same as Vonnegut himself had, including theexperiences of being a POW and in the firebombing ofDresden. But in Billys case, Vonnegut writes it witha particular point of view, which is against war. Forexample, when Vonnegut writes of the ways Billy viewsthings, especially in the war, he makes Billys viewslanted, which makes the reader perceive the war as