Strategic bombing during World War II

A Metaphor for War: Schwarzschild Radius and Black holes Connie Willis communicates that a black hole is akin to war through the use of a number of metaphors in her story Schwarzschild Radius. Schwarzschild Radius is about a World War One veteran, Rottschieben who is recounting his time in the war to a curious college student who wished to know about his time working alongside the physicist that is attributed with the discovery of the Schwarzschild Radius. Willis uses comparisons such as…

Vonnegut's fiction exposes the reality of the Vietnam War as dehumanizing and horrific towards one's ability to acheive individuality and liberation to form an identity. In Kurt Vonnegut's 1969 anti-war novel "Slaughterhouse Five" (SF) he shares many truths of fiction from his own experiences such as confinement is a barrier for personal growth, collectivism is not the key to acheiving liberation and identity is ultimately determined one's ability to detach themselves from others. This is…

characterization of Billy Pilgram and his experiences in World War II, Vonnegut uses his own background from the firebombing of Dresden, Germany to explore the psychological effects of war on the average soldier in Slaughterhouse-Five. The air raid upon Dresden, Germany in World War II took place during February 13-15, 1945 (Vonnegut). Prior to this, Vonnegut had been captured as a prisoner of war and he was held in a slaughterhouse meat locker during the…

written many novels, short stories, plays, and even a few works of non-fiction. One of the major influences on his writing, is due to his war experiences during World War II. During the time that he attended Cornell University, he enlisted and left before graduating. In the war, Vonnegut was captured by German forces and sent to Dresden, where he survived bombing raids by the Americans. This experience would impact the stories he composed in the years following. Stories such as…

the war. Kurt Vonnegut uses the bombing of Dresden as a central setting that everything revolves around. The bombing is what makes this book part autobiography because Vonnegut was present during the bombing of Dresden as a prisoner of war during World War II. The time travel part of the book makes it part science fiction. The setting of Slaughterhouse-5 is wide ranging because this book includes alien abduction and time traveling. The two most important places are Germany during World War II…

to humanity maintaining its belief in better days to come, it also tears itself apart through civil wars within the conflict within the species; that is, war. War is as evil as the Pandora’s box of emotions that cause it. And yet, the truest malice of war is not causing death, but living with the weight of experiencing it. In its wake war leaves millions of soldiers, civilians and prisoners of war haunted by memories of its horror. Look to the incineration of an innocent population in Kurt…

express itself later on when he wrote for a policy advocating pacifism in the Second World War while at Cornell. Combine this with having the experience of being one of the few survivors of the destruction of Dresden, and it is quite apparent how an individual such as Vonnegut would develop his humanist desires to see a better world. His work gave him that platform with a similarly minded counter-culture during his time. He advocated for socialism, for pacifism, and his relative distaste for…

Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five is a great hostile to war novel that presents the character Billy Pilgrim who is a wannabe in the novel. Billy Pilgrim gets himself lost in the wake of battling in World War Two when his mental solidness is diminishing. Billy recounts the tale of being stole to an unusual planet and meeting Tralfamadorians, the planet's life. These outsiders know each minute that their life will experience; in this manner, they are with the exception of their destiny. Through…

Rhinoceros written in 1959 is one of his most famous works forming a part of the Post War Avant-Garde Drama of the Theatre of Absurd. Rhinoceros demonstrates Ionesco’s anxiety about the spread of inhuman totalitarian tendencies in society. Inspired by his personal experiences with fascism during World War II, this absurdist drama depicts the struggle of one man to maintain his identity and integrity alone in a world where all others have succumbed to the beauty of brute force and violence. It is…

“Slaughterhouse-Five” is an anti-war novel by Kurt Vonnegut that follows the experiences of Billy Pilgrim through the Dresden firebombing, and his life afterwards. Throughout the book, one can follow the theme of the devastation of war by examining the negative effects the war has had on Billy. The theme shows itself through Billy’s sleeping patterns and mental state, his “time traveling,” and the symbolism of the phrase “So it goes.” After becoming a prisoner of war during World War II, Billy…