Bombing of Dresden in World War II

reality in which we find ourselves is extremely cruel, perhaps each of us would have chosen to leave this reality through imagination. Fleeing from the cruel reality of war and the invention of a fictional planet is more or less the situation in which the main character of Slaughterhouse-Five by the American author Kurt Vonnegut, finds himself. Slaughterhouse-Five as a literary novel combines in itself historical, sociological, psychological and scientific elements. In order to finish his long thoughtful project Vonnegut had to find…

World War II was a horrific ordeal. Many people, innocent people, died during this war. There are many war survivors that believe that warfare is horrid and they share how the war affected them firsthand. Many of the survivors of the firebombing of Dresden lent their testimonies of what happened hoping that it would gain public awareness so people could see the tragedies of war. In Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut he tells a story about the effects war can have on a person by telling a…

Is it possible to recreate a historical event through music? Daniel Bukvich attempts this very feat in his piece Symphony No.1(In Memoriam, Dresden, 1945). This piece of music has been the topic of many discussions in the musical world, and I’m sure that it would be a hot topic in the philosophy world as well. In particular, I think that Aristotle and Leo Tolstoy would have a lot to say about this piece. Aristotle’s definition of art focuses on humans’ ability to mimic real life and create a…

SUBJECT Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, illustrates the events of the Dresden bombing through the life of Billy Pilgrim. Throughout the novel Billy Pilgrim has no control over time and constantly travels to different points of his life. Billy Pilgrim was born in Illium, New York and pursued a career in optometry. After graduating high school Billy was drafted into the army during World War II. In the war Billy meets up with three men, one of them named Roland Weary. These men decide to…

“Every man’s life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another” (Hemingway). The Book Thief and Slaughterhouse Five have many similarities, but also differences throughout the books. Death is present in each book and talked about throughout, in The Book Thief, Death is the narrator and takes us through time as the war is going on. Slaughterhouse Five is very different, death is something Billy, the main character, does not show…

War is evil and the widespread of its evil can go beyond the battlefield, further than anyone imagines. Going into the lives of the soldiers who survive, tormenting them in ways that make death the easier choice. Yet this evil, is sometimes a necessary one, that can be justified by the balance of good it could bring to all of mankind. Over the years, war has certainly caused an enormous amount of evil in the lives of many people involved, such as the life of Billy Pilgrim. Depicted in the…

no way to describe the world except as “ever-changing.” And the companion to change has always been words. Words have instigated change and words have recorded it. The instigation of change is what makes words so important. And change is ever constant during times of war and times of civil protest. The words of works like “Never Give In” and Slaughterhouse Five changed our view on war, either as a positive or a negative. Words in “I Have a Dream…” and To Kill a Mockingbird changed the course of…

Slaughterhouse 5 and Brave New World Novels are ways that can be manifest to explain ideas or philosophical views that might influence other humans. Sometimes novels that have different type of theme or genre can have the casually of having same ideas but expressed differently according to the author wants to express. Slaughterhouse 5, written by Kurt Vonnegut, is a satirical novel that tries to mock war by making the reader followed the journey of the main character, Billy Pilgrim, in…

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…

“Slaughterhouse-Five” is an intriguing and mystifying story about everything from war to time travel. Kurt Vonnegut, the author, uses powerful imagery and repetition to create a beautiful and powerful theme that is seamlessly intertwined into his story line. More importantly than his imagery and repetition is his effortless use of symbolism. In the novel, Vonnegut uses many varying symbols that contain many sublevels to help the reader understand the underlying meaning of the text. In…