The novel Slaughterhouse-Five, or the Children 's Crusade written by Kurt Vonnegut is well loved by many people. The novel is about Kurt Vonnegut’s past and future in the perspective of the main character Billy Pilgrim. Through Billy Pilgrim’s experience with the Tralfamadorians and the frequent time travel between past and future. Kurt Vonnegut explores the issues of the inevitability of war, fatalism, and of free will; also the form of his writing, why it took so long to write, his experience with Dresden and the Tralfamadorians, and the importance of his phrases were also very important and contribute a lot to the whole idea of this novel. A quick summary of the novel starts with the main character Billy Pilgrim who was born in 1922 in Ilium,
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Throughout the book Billy Pilgrim time travels back and forth between his past and future.
After surviving the firebombing of Dresden during World War II, it took Kurt Vonnegut almost a quarter of a century (23 years) to finish writing the book, Slaughterhouse-Five, or the Children 's Crusade. “The form of Vonnegut’s writing style used in this novel is jumbled because it reflects the main character Billy Pilgrim’s condition throughout the novel. Those conditions were, Billy’s confusion, dislocation, and shock” (Cox). Kurt Vonnegut wrote this book to inform everyone about his perspective regarding war. The reason it took so long was probably due to the intense emotional scarring and internal anguish that he suffered from his first-hand experience with unnecessary loss. Another reason why it probably took Vonnegut twenty-three years to write this book was because information regarding the bombing of Dresden was top secret and classified, so no one really knew what happened for a while. During the bombing of Dresden roughly one hundred and thirty-five thousand people were killed except for the “four guards and one hundred American prisoners” (Vonnegut) taking shelter in the meat locker below the …show more content…
The novel talks about Kurt Vonnegut 's past involving his childhood, when he went to war, and when he came back from war. Vonnegut wants his readers to question Billy Pilgrim’s mental state throughout the novel involving his interaction with the Tralfamadorians and his many tragedy’s, one being the plane crash. He also wants the readers to understand that war is inevitable and that nothing intelligent can be said after the massacre of thousands of civilians. Vonnegut also wants his readers to question if people should have free will and if fatalism should
Throughout the book Billy Pilgrim time travels back and forth between his past and future.
After surviving the firebombing of Dresden during World War II, it took Kurt Vonnegut almost a quarter of a century (23 years) to finish writing the book, Slaughterhouse-Five, or the Children 's Crusade. “The form of Vonnegut’s writing style used in this novel is jumbled because it reflects the main character Billy Pilgrim’s condition throughout the novel. Those conditions were, Billy’s confusion, dislocation, and shock” (Cox). Kurt Vonnegut wrote this book to inform everyone about his perspective regarding war. The reason it took so long was probably due to the intense emotional scarring and internal anguish that he suffered from his first-hand experience with unnecessary loss. Another reason why it probably took Vonnegut twenty-three years to write this book was because information regarding the bombing of Dresden was top secret and classified, so no one really knew what happened for a while. During the bombing of Dresden roughly one hundred and thirty-five thousand people were killed except for the “four guards and one hundred American prisoners” (Vonnegut) taking shelter in the meat locker below the …show more content…
The novel talks about Kurt Vonnegut 's past involving his childhood, when he went to war, and when he came back from war. Vonnegut wants his readers to question Billy Pilgrim’s mental state throughout the novel involving his interaction with the Tralfamadorians and his many tragedy’s, one being the plane crash. He also wants the readers to understand that war is inevitable and that nothing intelligent can be said after the massacre of thousands of civilians. Vonnegut also wants his readers to question if people should have free will and if fatalism should