Essays on Slaughterhouse Five

Book Censorship

Despite the fact that the First Amendment in the U.S. Constitution provides legal protection for the freedom of religion, speech and press, modern American history as well as its democratic façade have been compromised greatly by numerous cases of book censorship and bans, particularly in educational institutions. Thereby, the case of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five is only a drop in the ocean of shameful censorship policies. As Vonnegut’s seminal work was banned in schools across the United States and as the Drake School Board set several books on fire, the prominent American writer whose books are ...

Introduction

The Half-blood Blues narrates the story of a black band who successfully recorded a jazz album in the midst of World War II. It centers on a group of jazz musicians whose ambition to become great in their art was dampened by the war. The war did not only deter them from pursuing their musical aspiration as a group, but it also shattered their dreams forever. On the other hand, the Slaughterhouse-Five is considered as an anti-war novel, and centers on the life of Billy Pilgrim. Most of the stories in this novel were based on the experiences of ...

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 ...

Kurt Vonnegut was a prolific American author, who wrote the novel “Slaughterhouse Five” (1969). The novel is one of the arguments against war that exists even today. The reason for this is because the novel deals with the effects of war on a person when they return home. This is because for many people it is hard to truly leave the battlefield behind due to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. As PSTD was not a recognizable diagnosis at the time of Vonnegut’s writing, he used Billy’s inability to connect with reality as a representation of the potential effect ...