What’s got Billy so Spooked?
Kurt Vonnegut. American World War Two survivor and famous author published Slaughterhouse-Five in 1969, 24 years after his experiences in World War Two. More specifically, his time as a prisoner of war (POW) and his survival of the Dresden bombing. The protagonist of this sci-fi anti-war novel, Billy Pilgrim, went through similar events as his auth0r however dealt with them much differently. Vonnegut uses science fiction, time, and personal reflection to reveal the psychological workings of Billy Pilgrim’s brain and how he dealt with is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
2nd Point: Abduction?
Following his plane crash and finding out that his wife died from carbon monoxide on her way to the hospital to see him would …show more content…
By using devices such as temporal distortion and especially metafiction Vonnegut blurs the line between history and reality and create a rather dark irony for his characters deaths like the fact the Billy (an American) was almost killed by the Allied forces. Some more examples are those that his father was killed via a gun shot when he was the one out hunting, Edgar Derby the high school teacher was executed for stealing a teapot, the two most prepared scouts in Billy’s crew were killed first, and after surviving a plane crash Billy finds out his wife died on accident. In chapter one the narrator, which can be interpreted as Vonnegut himself …show more content…
Vonnegut and Billy share some common traits when comes to the war, their helpless ness. Neither could help when it came to the death of one of their own as proven by Vonnegut after each death with the line “so it goes” making several appearances and lack of optimism with “Poo-tee-weet?” to say “all there is to say about massacre”(22). Since Vonnegut/Billy were taken as prisoners to Dresden and loved it all the same once the air raid occurred they were stuck with who to side with. They got to observe that situation on the side of the Dresden citizens and as an American soldier.
Conclusion Slaughterhouse-Five has a lot happening that will make you say ‘what?’ but that’s because Vonnegut wanted to get the point across that war does not make sense and by using science fiction, non-linear time, and own personal reflection we understand the workings of Vonnegut’s brain and how Billy Pilgrim dealt with his post-traumatic stress disorder. This novel is a classic and the narrator even says that: “People aren 't supposed to look back. I 'm certainly not going to do it anymore.
I 've finished my war book now. The next one I write is going to be fun.
This one is a failure, and had to be, since it was written by a pillar of
Kurt Vonnegut. American World War Two survivor and famous author published Slaughterhouse-Five in 1969, 24 years after his experiences in World War Two. More specifically, his time as a prisoner of war (POW) and his survival of the Dresden bombing. The protagonist of this sci-fi anti-war novel, Billy Pilgrim, went through similar events as his auth0r however dealt with them much differently. Vonnegut uses science fiction, time, and personal reflection to reveal the psychological workings of Billy Pilgrim’s brain and how he dealt with is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
2nd Point: Abduction?
Following his plane crash and finding out that his wife died from carbon monoxide on her way to the hospital to see him would …show more content…
By using devices such as temporal distortion and especially metafiction Vonnegut blurs the line between history and reality and create a rather dark irony for his characters deaths like the fact the Billy (an American) was almost killed by the Allied forces. Some more examples are those that his father was killed via a gun shot when he was the one out hunting, Edgar Derby the high school teacher was executed for stealing a teapot, the two most prepared scouts in Billy’s crew were killed first, and after surviving a plane crash Billy finds out his wife died on accident. In chapter one the narrator, which can be interpreted as Vonnegut himself …show more content…
Vonnegut and Billy share some common traits when comes to the war, their helpless ness. Neither could help when it came to the death of one of their own as proven by Vonnegut after each death with the line “so it goes” making several appearances and lack of optimism with “Poo-tee-weet?” to say “all there is to say about massacre”(22). Since Vonnegut/Billy were taken as prisoners to Dresden and loved it all the same once the air raid occurred they were stuck with who to side with. They got to observe that situation on the side of the Dresden citizens and as an American soldier.
Conclusion Slaughterhouse-Five has a lot happening that will make you say ‘what?’ but that’s because Vonnegut wanted to get the point across that war does not make sense and by using science fiction, non-linear time, and own personal reflection we understand the workings of Vonnegut’s brain and how Billy Pilgrim dealt with his post-traumatic stress disorder. This novel is a classic and the narrator even says that: “People aren 't supposed to look back. I 'm certainly not going to do it anymore.
I 've finished my war book now. The next one I write is going to be fun.
This one is a failure, and had to be, since it was written by a pillar of