Slaughterhouse-Five

Billy Pilgrim- the novel’s protagonist, Billy served in WWII, where his life was forever altered. He lived in Illium, NY, and was married with two children. Billy experiences time shifts, in which he moves around to live in different stages of his life. He is taken captive by aliens called Tralfamadorians. Vonnegut- the author explains at the beginning and end of Slaughterhouse-Five why he is writing the book, and how it came to be. He also appears as a character in the war scenes. Bernard O’Hare- an old war buddy of Vonnegut. Vonnegut seeks his assistance for writing his book. He accompanies Vonnegut to revisit Dresden. Mary O’Hare- wife of Bernard. She is disgusted by the war, and is pleased when Vonnegut agrees to title his book The Children’s Crusade. Barbara- Billy’s daughter. She is beside herself with the crazy antics of her father. Robert- Billy’s son. He follows his father into the military, and fights in Vietnam. Valencia Merble- Billy’s wife whose father owns the optometry school Billy studied at. She is round and unattractive. She dies from carbon monoxide poisoning while trying to get to Billy at the hospital. Kilgore Trout- a science fiction writer in Illium. Barbara thinks he started the crazy ideas her father speaks of. Roland Weary- a vicious soldier who is attracted to the different methods a person can die from. He saves Billy on the German lines several times. Montana Wildhack- an American porn star, who is Billy’s mate on the Tralfamadorians’ planet. They have a child together. Talfamadorians- aliens who come and kidnap Billy in their flying saucer. They can see in the 4th dimension.
 * //Character List//**

The novel begins narrated by the author himself. Kurt Vonnegut describes the war he fought in, and how it has led to his writing about it. He makes an outline of his book on piece of wallpaper, written in crayon. The words are linked by lines crisscrossing every which way. He finds it difficult to write about the war because “There is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre.” (19) He warns that his main character is fictional but the parts about the war are mostly true. He looks for assistance from his old war buddy Bernard O’Hare. Vonnegut is surprised by the blunt disgust shown by Mrs. O’Hare. She doesn’t want him glorifying such a violent war, where the men who fought were just “babies.” (14) Vonnegut decides to title his book “The Children’s Crusade.” The center of the novel is about Billy Pilgrim’s journey through life. He served as a soldier in WWII, and experienced first-hand the horrible bombing of Dresden. Post-War, Billy was a student, Optometrist, husband, and father of two. He experiences time shifts, in which he jumps between different points in his life. He first experiences a time shift when he is in a forest in Luxemburg serving as a chaplain. He swings to his death and birth through shades of violet and red. He then blinks and is a child being tossed into the YMCA swimming pool by his father, testing out the “sink or swim” method. He loses consciousness and wakes up at the age of 41, visiting his mother in a nursing home. He blinks, and finds himself attending his son’s little league banquet. He blinks, and is drunk at a New Year’s Eve party cheating on his wife. Someone shakes him, and he finds himself being pulled by Roland Weary behind German lines. Billy goes back and forth between his time spent in Germany, and his adult life. He most often finds himself in Dresden. He is alongside his POWs being moved into an old slaughterhouse. They describe the area as “OZ,” the city is untouched by the raging war going on. The night of his daughter’s wedding, Billy is kidnapped by little Aliens called Tralfamadorians, who take him to their native planet and mate him with movie actress Montana Wildhack. The aliens put them in their zoo where they can be observed. Billy learns a great deal from them about how they look at life in a more positive light. Twenty-five years later he sits on a plane to an optometrist convention with his father-in-law and fellow doctors. He knows the plane will crash, and he’ll survive. A false alarm goes off at the slaughterhouse. Billy knows that is a false alarm because Dresden won’t be bombed until the following night. He dozes off and is at his 18th wedding anniversary party listening to author Kilgore Trout speaking. He lies down and finds himself back in Dresden after the bombing. He walks outside to find the beautiful city replaced by a smoking mineral deposit. Back at the time of the plane crash, his wife Valencia rushes to the hospital. She gets in a wreck along the way but hurries on. When she gets to the hospital, she passes out and dies from carbon monoxide poisoning. He goes onto a radio talk show later in life, where he discusses with urgency the Tralfamadorians and his time spent with them.
 * Novel Summary**

People often find themselves powerless to fate. Billy cannot control what goes on in his life. He then finds a sense of acceptance in whatever occurs. He uses the repetition of “So it goes” every time someone dies. It is Vonnegut’s way of symbolizes we are powerless to certain events and happenings in life. When the Tralfamadorians kidnap him, Billy learns to accept their teachings that we are locked in fate and goes along with their wishes. The underlying theme falls in the author’s cry for prevention of wars and violence. Vonnegut uses the chaotic order of events in the novel to show the chaos of war. This is further supported by Mary O’Hare who lashes out at Billy for writing a book that would glorify the horrific events in which the brave heroes were just babies. Vonnegut uses the character of Mary to speak his thoughts on war. Vonnegut being a character in his own novel shows how truly drenched his life became in the war after serving. His viewpoint is clearly written but he chooses to focus on a fictional character to give us a glimpse into the hardships of war.
 * Motifs/Themes**

Slaughterhouse-Five is a novel set up to be as difficult as its subject is. The sequence of events is choppy and doesn’t give the reader the chance to feel at ease. He uses this to symbolize how soldiers are forever changed by their service in the war. Vonnegut implements many literary elements to paint the picture of the violent war zones he found himself in. Mary O’Hare calls the soldiers being babies, which is Vonnegut’s metaphor for the violent deaths of so many young boys who were drafted into one of the deadliest wars of all time. The juxtaposition of Dresden before and after the bomb represent the destructiveness war brings about. A beautiful city and its 130,000 people that were destroyed for reasons the author feels senseless and unnecessary. The allusions of the Tralfamadorians represent the post-traumatic stress disorder Billy suffers with post war. He truly believes in the little aliens, and his determination to spread his knowledge with the world through the radio talk shows alludes to his desire to see a world without the violence and death. Vonnegut is touching on the effects soldiers deal with coming home from war and how their experiences are branded on their hearts and minds.
 * Literary Elements/Rhetorical Devises**