Billy Budd

Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse-Five” tells the story of Billy Pilgrim, a decidedly non- heroic man who had become "unstuck in time”. The two central events in his life that he keeps returning to are his abduction by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore and his time as a soldier and prisoner of war during World War II, during which he witnesses the allied firebombing of the city of Dresden, Germany and as a result, more death than he had ever known possible.Through the forms of figurative…

Autobiography Slaughterhouse-Five ain't a pure autobiography because, while it does have elements of the author's life in it, most of the narrative is focused on a fictional character, Billy Pilgrim. At the same time, many of Vonnegut's own experiences in Dresden, Germany, provide the engine for Slaughterhouse-Five's plot... so we think it deserves to be called a semi-autobiographical novel. War Drama Slaughterhouse-Five is also primarily about various aspects of war: (a) how much it sucks,…

A Reflection on the Recurring Themes of 3 of Dave Eggers Works A wide range of personal experiences to look back on, a curiosity to understand and reveal social injustices; this along with Eggers sophisticated and entertaining writing style has justly made Dave Eggers a national best seller. Through reading three of his many works, I have discovered recurring themes of loss and loss through death, faults with the social justice system and racial profiling, and a misconception of…

beliefs and then highlighting their misconceptions. Vonnegut uses the character Roland Weary, a senseless, hateful soldier taken prisoner by the Germans along with the novel’s main character, Billy Pilgrim, to show how unrealistic the expectations of the war would be of a common…

Vonnegut through the voice of Billy Pilgrim, the protagonist of Vonnegut’s novel, Slaughterhouse Five. The strength of Vonnegut’s novel lies in his own personal experiences, as he himself was an American prisoner of war, was captured in Germany, and then was transferred to the city of Dresden. Throughout the novel, Billy Pilgrim suffers flashbacks of the horrors of war, specifically those associated with the bombing of Dresden. By narrating the novel through the voice of Billy, Vonnegut conveys…

Although Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a war novel and So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson is public commentary, both works possess significant factors which explain or expose underlying human savagery. Lord of the Flies primarily deals with friction between two boys leaders, Ralph, the savage and Jack, the civilized. So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed points out, however, the destruction or saving of people’s lives based on the rocky balance between savagery and civility. Both…

and science fiction in Slaughterhouse Five (Vonnegut, 1969), allows for an exploration of the aftermath of the war on both individuals who fought in it, and society post-war, which he does more specifically through the character of the protagonist, Billy Pilgrim, and his invention of Tralfamadore. Noted by Kevin Brown, Vonnegut wanted to “remind the reader of the anomic alienation that existed in the society that came after that war” (Brown, 2011), which he does so eloquently through the element…

(361). Though Louie never did relay his plan to kill the Bird to anyone, his behavior continued to reflect his anger. Louie’s wife, Cynthia Applewhite, eventually resorted to begging Louie to attend a service by evangelist Billy Graham. Because of Cynthia’s insistence and Billy Graham’s sermon, Louie was reminded of a promise made on the raft in the middle of the Pacific: “It was a promise thrown at heaven, a promise he had not kept, a promise he had allowed himself to forget until just this…

anti war novel. The truths of the book give the essence of Vonnegut’s meaning, whether it be during the awful war or just in the main character, Billy, who’s unforgiving flashbacks take place when a moment of discomfort comes into his life. Billys discomfort helps us to better understand why Vonnegut reveals and hides the truth, because in the end, Billy is trying to hide from it himself.…

intelligent and makes sense. Diction is used by the author in that his word choice shows why war is hard to describe. Vonnegut’s use of diction is evident in the last line of the book, “Poo-tee-weet?”(Vonnegut 275), because it’s something a bird said to Billy, the main character. It isn’t supposed to make sense because of its underlying meaning, which is that war doesn’t…