Kurt Vonnegut Jr. in his novel “Slaughterhouse-Five” talks about several themes in relation to war. He uses meta-fiction and writing about writing as a major style in which to relay his message. The memories of the war keep getting off his mind. He wants to write the story but in other times he feels that it is not necessary. Vonnegut applies meta-fiction in his writing in order to bring the various effects of war: psychological and physical. Through the use of various characters in his work, Vonnegut is able to depict clearly the situation during the war. It is satirical that he does not talk about himself given his experience in the war. He uses another person. the protagonist in the story, Billy Pilgrim. Billy was saved during the bombing of Dresden when he was kept in a slaughterhouse (Batschke). Vonnegut explores the life of Pilgrim before the World War II and during the World War II. He also looks at his post-war life and how the war affected his life. He looks at the life of Pilgrim to explain how wars affect the life of the prisoners or war. Billy was an infantry soldier during World War II. He was fighting with other soldiers for the US against Germany (Batschke). Billy was enlisted as a soldier in his early life while had just completed his high school and was not married (Batschke). Young people are deployed into the battle and the effects of this are not considered.
Vonnegut introduces his story by his struggles to remember the war (Vonnegut 5). He does not seem to remember very many aspects of the war. It is satirical that he was largely involved in the war but does not remain the details. He uses satire here to show how even those who were directly involved in the war could get affected. Their memories of the war are almost totally forgotten. He is determined to write about the effects of the war but he feels that his life was not all about the war. There were several other people who were involved in the war who obviously experienced much worse effects than himself. The war affected the people both psychologically and physically. He talks about himself being a prisoner of war and talks about how his friend Gerhard Muller was “locked up in a slaughterhouse” (Vonnegut 5). The fact that he can remember what happened to his friend and not himself is satirical. If anything the details of what he went through should be present in his mind. In the introduction he considers what the situation was like and he says that “there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre” (Vonnegut 11). Talking about intelligence and the massacre at Dresden, it is satirical that Vonnegut tries to connect the two. Anyone can do a massacre; whether intelligent or not. He makes war to appear as a fiction and not a reality in several instances. War is a problem to every human community and there is nothing pleasant about it. Even though nobody ever desire to talk about it, there is always something to say about war.
Vonnegut visits his friend Bernard O’Hare on several occasions. They were in the war together. O’Hare seems to want to hear nothing connected to the war. This is probably because of the horrors of the war and the bad experienced involved. Mary O’Hare, Bernard’s wife, keeps to herself in another instance when Vonnegut goes to visit them (Vonnegut 10). It is funny that she takes the two to the kitchen and leaves them there. It is also satirical that Mrs. O’Hare shows contempt towards their remembrance of the war. She takes Vonnegut’s children and put them to play together with her own children upstairs. Vonnegut and O’Hare are left in the kitchen where they enter into their conversation again. The conversation is all about the war and Mrs. O’Hare openly declares that she does not want to hear them talk about the war. Vonnegut could read Mrs. O’Hare’s body language. It is satirical that he goes on further to talk about the war; something that Mrs. O’Hare is against. She tells Vonnegut, “You were just babies in the war like the ones upstairs” (Vonnegut 11). The fact that they were young in the war did not make them babies. It is satirical that she compares them with the children. This shows how different people could be deployed to fight irrespective of their ages. Vonnegut promises Mrs. O’Hare that he would stop talking about the war and will now call it a ‘Children’s crusade.” Mrs. O’Hare is happy with his suggestion. They became so concerned about the crusade that O’Hare had to check it in a book. The “Children’s Crusade” was highlighted by Charles Mackay in his book “Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.” Mackay brings an aspect of the horrors of war when he says that “Europe expended millions of her treasures and the blood of two million of her people” (Vonnegut 11). It is satirical that everything Vonnegut does is connected to war no matter how hard he tries to erase the memories. The effects of the war is something that none of the victims would ever forget.
Vonnegut then brings to fore the protagonist whose life was centered on the war. He follows Billy pilgrim on his life and the impact the war had on him (Batschke). Billy’s life as a soldier is used to represent the lives of the other soldiers that were involved in the war. Pilgrim is raised in Ilium in New York. He is captured during the war by the Nazi and put to stay in a slaughterhouse in Dresden together with other soldiers (Batschke). Dresden in itself was a peaceful city and no war was taking place here. Vonnegut shows satire when he talks about Dresden not taking part in the war but it is bombed. It acted as a hospital to those who were injured in the war and was also a prison for war soldiers. Vonnegut explores how this peaceful was later attacked and several people killed. Billy escaped when the city was bombed. It looks satirical that only one person, Billy, escapes during this bombing. It brings the question of where all the others were during this bombing.
Vonnegut talks about several horrors of the war that Billy experienced and witnessed as a key figure in the war. After Billy escapes in the destruction of Dresden, he is captured by aliens from Tralfamadoria on his daughter’s wedding day (Vonnegut 15). He describes these beings (the Tralfamadorias) as more advanced beyond humans both in intellect and technology (Batschke). Billy talking about beings that are more advanced beyond humans is very satirical. Furthermore, the issue of another planet where these creatures were is in itself satirical. It is satirical how Billy got abducted and how he accessed that planet. Billy’s experience here reveals the technological development that was witnessed in the war. He depicts how heartless people were during this war. The life with the Tralfamadoria makes Billy not to view death as so bad. Death seems as a natural and normal thing that causes no pain. It is satirical that there are creautures that are not touched by death. The death of people seems normal to them and they believe that it was predetermined. Billy expected the Tralfamadorias “to be baffled and alarmed by all the wars and other forms of murder” that were taking place on earth (Vonnegut 54). The war was a worldwide event. It is satirical that there were people who were not alarmed or surprised by the several murders in the war. However, everything did not happen according to his expectations. The Tralfamadorias are not real figures or aliens. They are a creation by Vonnegut to show how people viewed the war differently (Horror). He makes it look ironical how the death of several people in the war was considered as a normal thing. The world of the Tralfamadorias enables Billy to overcome guilt as a soldier who witnessed several murders. Billy is able to enjoy peace and serenity for some time. The world of the Tralfamadorias only lulled the horrors of the war for some time.
The world of the Tralfamadorias brings with it the idea of free will. He is told that freewill is “a unique human belief” (Horror).Billy is told that everything in the world has been predestined (Batschke). He is told that diseases and death are normal things to the existence of everyone. Billy works as an Optometrist. He believes that his job is to “prescribing corrective lenses for Earthling souls (Vonnegut 17). It is satirical that Billy being an optometrist at one point forgets his job and is carried away by other things. His job was to help people to have a better visual acuity. It is also satirical that he could not see well but he is helping people with eye problems. It reveals the great needs of people that were there during the war but there were few qualified personnel to take care of them. He believes that these souls could not see as clearly as his friends in Tralfamadoria. Vonnegut employs the Tralfamadoria to show that the view of the people in the real world was very mistaken.
When Billy is taken back to Germany, he is given the worst treatment. He has no place to sleep. The people in the room shout at him and he is chased away. No one interacted freely with Billy. He had to “sleep standing up, or not sleep at all” (Vonnegut 38). It is satirical that Billy as a prisoner of war sleeps while standing. It is also satirical how the American soldiers point guns at each other during the war. The German opponents look at them with awe. The people are a team and they are not expected to turn against each other. Every time someone or something dies, it is satirical that Vonnegut always says “so it goes” (Misk). He had become accustomed to death to an extent that it did not shake him. (Batschke).
Vonnegut displays a lot of satire in his work. Through this he manages to bring to fore the effects of the war. He creates a mental picture in his audience of the horrors and inhumanity of the war. By this means he is able to relay the message to his audience.
Works cited
Batschke, Cameron: “The Effects of War on Slaughterhouse-Five’s Billy Pilgrim.”
Vonnegut, Kurt Jr.: “Slaughterhouse-Five: or Children’s Crusade, a Duty Dance with Death.” New York: Dell publishing, 1971.
Miska, Michael: ‘War in Slaughterhouse-Five.’ Marek Vit’s Kurt Vonnegut Corner. 28 March 2005
