In Slaughter House Five, Billy Pilgrim finds himself unstuck in time jumping between several periods of his life. Travelling between his experience as a prisoner of war in World War II to his suburban family life in the 1950s and 1960s, and his experience as a human specimen in an alien zoo on a distant planet, Billy seemingly has no control over these transitions.
REVIEW
Vonnegut’s writing has always defied traditional classification and Slaughterhouse-Five is a prime example of this as it combines a mix of social satire, science fiction, anti-war sentiment as well as great deal of autobiographical detail. The full title-page of Slaughterhouse Five is perhaps the most revealing and apt description of the book in addition to giving us some insight into the author’s mind-set behind its creation.
Slaughterhouse-Five or The Children’s Crusade – A Duty-Dance with Death By Kurt Vonnegut
A fourth-generation German-American now living in easy circumstances on Cape Cod [and smoking too much], who, as an American Infantry Scout Hors De Combat, As a prisoner of war, witnessed the fire-bombing of Dresden, Germany, “The Florence of the Elbe,” a long time ago, and survived to tell the tell. This is a novel somewhat in the telegraphic schizophrenic manner of tales of the planet Tralfamadore, where the flying saucers come from. Peace.
Billy Pilgrim’s “telegraphic schizophrenic” shifts from one period of his life to another is his own defence mechanism in dealing with (or avoiding dealing with) the traumatic experiences in his life. Vonnegut has acknowledged that the only way in which he could tell his story of surviving the fire-bombing of Dresden was in this fragmented manner and that it refused to come out as a linear story when he attempted to tell it as such.
The Essay on Insanity Of War In Slaughterhouse Five
... -heartedness allow Vonnegut to show effectively that war is absurd. The most important historical plot strand of Slaughterhouse-Five is Billy Pilgrim's war experience which occurs ... fantastical Tralfamadore is a planet where Billy escapes to when he feels life's stresses; however mad Billy seems to have become, Tralfamadore doubles ...
What is amazing to me about Slaughterhouse Five is that Vonnegut manages to fit so much into one story. While writing a brilliant satire on the absurdity of war on par with Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, Vonnegut also manages to put a human face on the tragedy at Dresden and expose one of World War II’s darker moments to the general public in an accessible form.
While the fragmented nature of time in the novel is largely a thematic device used by Vonnegut to contrast the different events in Billy Pilgrim’s life, Vonnegut also contemplates the nature of time and fate in the book.
After Billy meets with the Tralfamadorian’s and they explain the nature of time from their own perception, Billy is able to accept his wanderings in time. Having visited his own death on numerous times he is no longer frightened by it and has come to accept it. With regard to fate, Vonnegut seems to argue that life is easier to live if we, like Billy Pilgrim accept that what will happen has already happened and that we are not in control of our own destiny. This absence of responsibility for our actions could in itself spark an entirely separate philosophical and religious debate that I don’t intend to entertain in the space provided here. Suffice it to say that it’s an interesting proposition and one that can be seen as a recurring theme in time travel literature.
With regard to time travel and the nature of time my argument of late has been that if the past is immutable and cannot be changed by the time traveller, then it tends to suggest that fate exists. My logic being that assuming time is linear (which it may not be), our present is the future’s past so if we can’t change our past the future cannot change its own past (our present).
Confused yet? Anyhow, its just an aside that I thought I would mention in light of the themes raised in Slaughterhouse Five.
Vonnegut’s other work that deal’s largely with the nature of time is Timequake [1996] and is well worth the read. You can also check out my review of Timequake on this site.
The Essay on Sir Henry Movie Book Stapleton
Imagine if you had to read about the Titanic, instead having the pleasure of watching it. Wouldn t it be boring That s why movies are preferred over books. Movies have everything. A s ance, romance and suspense are all parts of a good movie. Books can only help the reader imagine the plot, but the movie actually takes the reader there. The movie version of The Hound of the Baskervilles starring ...
On a personal note it’s interesting that currently between 20% and 25% of all the traffic incoming to Andy’s Anachronisms is related to searches on Slaughterhouse Five. I suspect it is largely high school students looking for information on the book for essays. My review of the movie Slaughterhouse Five [Click Here for Review of Movie], directed by Roy Hill, posted since June 2000 has gotten its share of hits. I personally feel there is no substitution to reading the book.
I’d like to quote Vonnegut himself on the difference between books and movies and why he feels that people tend to watch movies over books. The excerpt was taken from the preface to From Between Time and Timbuktu or Prometheus-5: a space fantasy based on materials by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (New York: Delacorte Press/Seymour Lawrence, 1972, pp. xii-xvii).
“I have become an enthusiast for the printed word again. I have to be that, I now understand, because I want to be a character in all of my works. I can do that in print. In a movie, somehow, the author vanishes. Everything of mine which has been filmed so far has been one character short, and the character is me.”
“The worst thing about film, from my point of view, is that it cripples illusions which I have encouraged people to create in their heads. Film doesn’t create illusion. It makes them impossible. It is a bullying form of reality, like the model rooms in the furniture department of Bloomingdale’s.
There is nothing for the viewer to do but gawk. For example: there can be only one Clockwork Orange by Stanley Kubrick. There are tens of thousands of Clockwork Oranges by Anthony Burgess, since every reader has to cast, costume, direct, and design the show in his head. The big trouble with print, or course, is that it is an elitist art form. Most people can’t read very well.”
As a final note I’d like to direct your attention to the ultimate Vonnegut website. Chris Huber has created the The Vonnegut Web which is the most comprehensive site you will find on Kurt Vonnegut and his work. The site contains reviews, essays, criticism, a FAQ, links, etc. If it’s related to Vonnegut, then it’s likely to be there somewhere. I highly recommend a visit to the site and my thanks to Chris Huber for such a fantastic site.
The Essay on Compared To The Movie Book Story Farquahar
The same story all with the same plot, same characters, and in the end the exact same sorrowful outcome. Both the book and the film are about the same story called An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, but somehow it seems like you get a much better picture and realization of the story and what is going on if you read it on paper opposed to film. The story does unquestionably take numerous ...
