Essay on Slaughterhouse Five
Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse Five” is a prominent novel which reveals the controversy and uselessness of World War II. In his book, the author has managed to show the war as a purposeless massacre, in which people die for the sake of ideals they do not really understand or support. In such a context, the main character of the book becomes a distant observer who has got a chance to travel in time and look at the war and his own place in this war from the position of an observer, but not a participant who risks being shot dead every minute. At the same time, Kurt Vonnegut uses skillful satirical techniques to show the purposeless of the massacre called World War and with the main character he shows that the war absolutely useless. The author reveals the fact that the war totally devaluated the human life that made the mankind totally degraded and unworthy of being called intelligent race. Kurt Vonnegut satirically contrast human race to Tralfamadorians, who perceive humans as an inferior race, a kind of unintelligent beings who cannot live in peace and harmony and who cannot really understand what they are living for.
Kurt Vonnegut is very critical in relation to World War II, which he definitely views as a great massacre which had no sense. In this respect, it is quite symbolic that Billy, the main character of the story, is sent to the disused slaughterhouse, when he was captured by Germans. In such a way, the author shows that the war is a huge slaughterhouse, where people die for nothing being victims of some invisible power which pushes them to war and the human life is worth nothing:
When a Tralfamadorian sees a corpse, all he thinks is that the dead person is in bad condition in the particular moment, but that the same person is just fine in plenty of other moments. Now, when I myself hear that somebody is dead, I simply shrug and say what the Tralfamadorians say about dead people, which is “So it goes” (Vonnegut, p.27).
Ironically, both American PoWs and German soldiers hide together in the same place when Dresden is under the bombing. In fact, the entire city becomes a slaughterhouse, where there is no difference whether victims of the bombing are German soldiers or Americans, or civilians. Thus, the author shows the blindness of the war and its destructive effect which influences the life of all people regardless of their origin, age, beliefs, etc.
At the same time, Kurt Vonnegut contrasts Billy, who is rather pacifist, to Roland Weary who constantly chastises him for the lack of enthusiasm toward war. This man is a satirical representation of proponents of war who were devoted to some ideals, which were worth nothing, but who were interested in war for the war’s sake. The author depicts this quite a bloodthirsty man as a narrow-minded person, who wreaks destruction and death since it is Weary who is actually the cause of Billy’s murder. At the same time, Billy contrasts soldiers to the new generation, children and adolescents who are in a desperate position during wartime but who are pure and probably more intelligent than adults:
“Billy looked up at the face that went with the clogs. It was the face of a blond angel, of a fifteen-year-old boy. The boy was as beautiful as Eve.” (Vonnegut, p.53).
In such a way, the author attempts to show that the mankind can have a new, different generation, which will never start a new war.
As for Billy himself, he “unstuck in time”, which means that he can uncontrollably drift from one part of his life to another “and the trips aren’t necessarily fun” (Vonnegut, p.23). Nevertheless, throughout his life, he always hates war and the author shows that the war is a kind of factory where the ultimate product is death:
When the bombers got back to their base, the steel cylinders were taken from the racks and shipped back to the United States of America, where factories were operating night and day, dismantling the cylinders, separating the dangerous contents into minerals. Touchingly, it was mainly women who did this work. (Vonnegut, p.74-75).
This passage shows that the war’s only goal is death and there is no logical point in the war. The main character fails to understand the reason of the war even when he got a possibility to travel in time. On looking back at his life, he fails to understand the point of the war. At the same time, when he is kidnapped by Tralfamadorians, he clearly sees that there is no logic in this event as there is no logic in the war. In fact, he becomes a representative of the Earth who establishes the contact with the extraterrestrial civilization, but there is no noble pretext for such a contact:
“Welcome aboard, Mr. Pilgrim,” said the loudspeaker. “Any questions?” Billy licked his lips, thought a while, inquired at last: “Why me?” “That is a very Earthling question to ask, Mr. Pilgrim. Why you? Why us for that matter? Why anything? Because this moment simply is. Have you ever seen bugs trapped in amber?” “Yes.” Billy, in fact, had a paperweight in his office which was a blob of polished amber with three lady-bugs embedded in it. “Well, here we are, Mr. Pilgrim, trapped in the amber of this moment. There is no why.” (Vonnegut, p.76-77).
Thus, the author shows that even the most important events such as the contact with the extraterrestrial civilization do not have any profound sense. In such a context, the war seems to be even more senseless because it is obvious that the contact with the extraterrestrial civilization is potentially extremely important for the mankind.
This contact gives Billy a chance to travel in time, but he understands that he cannot change his fate. For instance, he cannot change his personal life:
“Billy didn’t want to marry ugly Valencia. She was one of the symptoms of his disease. He knew he was going crazy when he heard himself proposing marriage to her, when he begged her to take the diamond ring and be his companion for life” (Vonnegut, p.107).
In such a context, it is obvious that even with the ability to travel in time, Billy cannot stop or prevent the war, which is definitely inevitable, even though it is absolutely senseless and useless.
Thus, Kurt Vonnegut satirically presents the war as a great and pointless massacre, where people are doomed to die as cattle with no chances to change their fate or prevent the war.
