Slaughterhouse Five is narrated by the author in both first and third person. Mainly the first person sections being narrated confine the first and last chapters and are occasionally in the present tense when speaking from the personal point of view as Kurt Vonnegut. The tone of the narration is ironic and familiar to the reader. The narrator uncovers some dark humor in the novel as well as emotional material. He also prefaces a passage with “Billy says” to make a distinction between Billy’s view of events and the reality of the whole thing. The majority of the book is written in the past tense and the narration is omniscient. This means that the narrator has an all-knowing perspective of the story. It provides some analysis of their motivations
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Vonnegut chose to portray this war story through the use of a non-linear narrative structure. By doing this he is able to use flashbacks as “time traveling”. This story shifts back and forth between the past, present, and future since there is no chronological order. This novel ranges from the years 1922-1976. The narrative shows Billy’s war experiences from 1944-1945, but then skips around his whole life, from early childhood to his death in 1976. These time jumps gives the reader an emotional view of Billy’s life, but it also is very confusing to most readers. Vonnegut calls these times jumps as Billy “paying random visits to all events in between” (23). By the end of this story it is clear to why Vonnegut chose this type of narration. By doing this Vonnegut is able to keep fresh in the reader’s mind some of the most important moments or events of the …show more content…
He says that their novels contain discrete and urgent messages to describe scenes or situations. The voice told Billy, “There are no telegrams on Tralfamadore. But you’re right: each clump of symbols is a brief, urgent message-describing a situation, a scene” (88). Billy in my eyes has adopted this Tralfamadorian way because the only way he can make sense of things that have happened in his life is to recognize time he has left after he gets back from the war. Billy struggled to make sense out of his life being forever marked by his firsthand experiences of the war. The narrator follows the same attitude as him to understand what he is thinking. A traditional view of this novel would have been if Billy were an old man who flashed back on his life when he was
Vonnegut chose to portray this war story through the use of a non-linear narrative structure. By doing this he is able to use flashbacks as “time traveling”. This story shifts back and forth between the past, present, and future since there is no chronological order. This novel ranges from the years 1922-1976. The narrative shows Billy’s war experiences from 1944-1945, but then skips around his whole life, from early childhood to his death in 1976. These time jumps gives the reader an emotional view of Billy’s life, but it also is very confusing to most readers. Vonnegut calls these times jumps as Billy “paying random visits to all events in between” (23). By the end of this story it is clear to why Vonnegut chose this type of narration. By doing this Vonnegut is able to keep fresh in the reader’s mind some of the most important moments or events of the …show more content…
He says that their novels contain discrete and urgent messages to describe scenes or situations. The voice told Billy, “There are no telegrams on Tralfamadore. But you’re right: each clump of symbols is a brief, urgent message-describing a situation, a scene” (88). Billy in my eyes has adopted this Tralfamadorian way because the only way he can make sense of things that have happened in his life is to recognize time he has left after he gets back from the war. Billy struggled to make sense out of his life being forever marked by his firsthand experiences of the war. The narrator follows the same attitude as him to understand what he is thinking. A traditional view of this novel would have been if Billy were an old man who flashed back on his life when he was