Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five details the struggles of draftee and American prisoner of war Billy Pilgrim after Americans bombed the city of Dresden during World War II. The story, partially based off of Vonnegut’s own experiences as a prisoner of war during the bombing of Dresden, ends up taking a more fantastic turn, as Billy learns that he can travel through time since the alien race of Tralfamadorians have granted him this ability. Yet, it is the structure, or lack thereof, in Slaughterhouse-Five that puts this book apart from similar anti-war and time-travel novels. The structure and “time-hopping” present in Slaughterhouse-Five cause Vonnegut to indicate how he feels as though he can never truly escape the horrors of Dresden, to
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Billy recalls being in a mental ward with his mother visiting him (Vonnegut 102), and after the bombing of Dresden and his time on Tralfamadore, he feels less human and does not regain the ability to feel human through the end of the book. After the war, Billy adopts multiple Tralfamadorian ideals, such as people never truly dying due to being alive in other moments, as they are the only way he is able to cope with what he saw and experienced during the war and the lack of grip he has on time. In addition, before the war Billy continually reacts to the pressures of the world around him and is defined by his actions. Billy is “in a constant state of stage fright, he says, because he never knows what part of his life he is going to have to act in next” (Vonnegut 23), who is constantly being insulted by his environment. Billy acts the many different aspects of his life, including his role as a soldier, husband, father and optometrist. As Billy ages, he begins to lose this idea of playing a role and the different roles he plays start to separate, and he falls further into his role of acting. Even when Billy is with Montana in the Tralfamadorian zoo, he is constantly acting while he is being observed by the Tralfamadorians.
Through Vonnegut’s non-linear structure of Slaughterhouse-Five, he shows how he feels like he cannot leave Dresden behind, how the arrangement of moments lead to a new philosophy and how by being in the war, Billy’s mental state transforms. While it writing a novel from a non-linear point of view sets Slaughterhouse-Five apart from other anti-war novels, it is through this unique structure and the character Billy Pilgrim, that Vonnegut is able to appropriately tell his story of what happened at
Billy recalls being in a mental ward with his mother visiting him (Vonnegut 102), and after the bombing of Dresden and his time on Tralfamadore, he feels less human and does not regain the ability to feel human through the end of the book. After the war, Billy adopts multiple Tralfamadorian ideals, such as people never truly dying due to being alive in other moments, as they are the only way he is able to cope with what he saw and experienced during the war and the lack of grip he has on time. In addition, before the war Billy continually reacts to the pressures of the world around him and is defined by his actions. Billy is “in a constant state of stage fright, he says, because he never knows what part of his life he is going to have to act in next” (Vonnegut 23), who is constantly being insulted by his environment. Billy acts the many different aspects of his life, including his role as a soldier, husband, father and optometrist. As Billy ages, he begins to lose this idea of playing a role and the different roles he plays start to separate, and he falls further into his role of acting. Even when Billy is with Montana in the Tralfamadorian zoo, he is constantly acting while he is being observed by the Tralfamadorians.
Through Vonnegut’s non-linear structure of Slaughterhouse-Five, he shows how he feels like he cannot leave Dresden behind, how the arrangement of moments lead to a new philosophy and how by being in the war, Billy’s mental state transforms. While it writing a novel from a non-linear point of view sets Slaughterhouse-Five apart from other anti-war novels, it is through this unique structure and the character Billy Pilgrim, that Vonnegut is able to appropriately tell his story of what happened at