Essay Example on Vonnegut's Slaughter House Five

Introduction

The book Slaughter House-Five is a fictional book authored by Kurt Vonnegut. The story takes place in different years in history, however, it mainly focuses on the Second World War. Vonnegut was military in the Second World War, where he was firebombed in Dresden. It iis believed that the post-traumatic events that followed after the war are what influenced Vonnegut to write this book. He creates a fictional character that undergoes an exciting transformation that involves being released from time which enables him to experience different moments in history as if he was there. Vonnegut discusses many ideas in this book such as death, time, and history. Subjectivity, objectivity, perception, and war.

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Aspect of Time

As seen from the book, the aspect of time is viewed differently, for instance, characters such as Barbara sees time as normal twenty-four hours, just like most people. However, a character such as Billy sees time as a loop that has already happened and anybody can decide which side to take. Billy says that he realized in time travel that when a person dies in the present, he or she is alive in the past and therefore people are not supposed to cry when a person dies.

According to Billy and Tralfamadorian’s time, time is simply the matter of choosing how you will view it. Therefore, when one dies, we only choose to see the end of someone's time frame, whereas, past, present, and even the future is still within the aspect of time. Though this idea seemed unrealistic to most people, to Billy it was real and he claimed he has lived in Tralfamadorian’s time. However, for other characters like Barbara, the time has no meaning.

Additionally, death is viewed differently in Tralfamadorian's as compared to the normal way in which it is viewed here on earth. According to the novel, when a Tralfamadorian’s sees a dead body what he sees is that that particular person is in a bad state at that moment but okay in other several moments (Vonnegut). In contrast to normal death, we are used to both Tralfamadorian’s and Billy sees death as a normal moment of that particular person's time. Therefore, Tralfamadorian’s viewed death as a bad situation in a person's time portrayed by death. However, in Billy's society, the majority of the individual sees death as normal since they have not been offered any ideas of death in Tralfamadorian’s.

Contrast to Normal Death

According to the novel, when a Tralfamadorian’s sees a dead body what he sees is that that particular person is in a bad state at that moment but okay in other several moments. In contrast to normal death, we are used to both Tralfamadorian’s and Billy sees death as a normal moment of that particular person's time. Therefore, Tralfamadorian’s viewed death as a bad situation in a person's time portrayed by death. However, in Billy's society, the majority of the individual sees death as normal since they have not been offered any ideas of death in Tralfamadorian’s. Berger's idea of history is also portrayed in the novel by Vonnegut. In this novel, Billy discusses how Tralfamadorian’s sees time, which is past, present, and future by pure memory only. Unlike how the rest of the society viewed time, Tralfamadorian's viewed time as moments that can be revisited by the people themselves

Berger's idea of history is also portrayed in the novel by Vonnegut. In this novel, Billy discusses how Tralfamadorian’s sees time, which is past, present, and future by pure memory only. Unlike how the rest of the society viewed time, Tralfamadorian’s viewed time as moments that can be revisited by the people themselves. “All moments, past, present, and future, always have existed, always will exist. The Tralfamadorian’s can look at all the different moments just that way we can look at a stretch of the Rocky Mountains, for instance. They can see how permanent all the moments are, and they can look at any moment that interests them. It is just an illusion we have here on Earth that one moment follows another one, like beads on a string, and that once a moment is gone it is gone forever,” (Vonnegut). Though the majority of the people in the society never viewed time as memories, Billy was deeply buried in Tralfamadorian's ways of looking at history.

Idea of Objectivity

In this novel, the idea of objectivity by Berger is also discussed by Vonnegut. Throughout the novel, we are guided through the life of Billy as he moves from one-time frame to another allowing us to have a look at the whole of his life. However, as we follow the life of Billy from one-time frame to another, we get to understand that he is living his normal life, though being able to jump from one time frame to another. Billy lives his usual daily life but he is fond of his subjective life as suggested by Tralfamadorian’s. Most people tend to live objective life as it provides real and visual proof whereas subjective life is based on thoughts and opinions. Therefore, the objective side of life is what makes us think the idea of Billy traveling from time to time was ridiculous.

This approach, however, aids the reader in grasping several main targets at the same time. The nature of Billy of inter-switching the future is portrayed by the time aspect, the past and the present as if they are prevailing simultaneously. Though Billy's ideas make him appear crazy for anyone, we come to realize later on from the book that the brain of a person was created to think like Billy's. that is, everybody daydreams, everybody fantasizes and only these can become real when one is living a world full of imaginations.

The historical happenings in this book cover the gruesome events of World War Two. According to history, the majority of Americans who were silent on the matter of World War who had to deal with social, political, and economic issues during the presidency of Johnson. In the 1960s, the Vietnam conflict had intensified without any side showing the sign of surrendering. In this period American failed to get victory over Vietnam despite its military and economic might.

In the novel, Billy visits a new world, where he encounters new creatures. These new creatures teach him about the true meaning of time. Billy learns that time does not just pass by or happen but the time has already happened and people merely chooses which part of their life they want to imagine. The true meaning of time is only known to a few individuals on the planet earth. Since other people in the society had the objective minds about time and life as they were taught from the time of birth, whenever they heard of Billy's ideas they could help to think he was going crazy.

Disjointed Narrative

In this novel, Vonnegut used a disjointed narrative approach as the novel consists of short fragments and essays instead of having a long continuous narrative essay. This approach, however, aids the reader in grasping several main targets at the same time. The nature of Billy of inter-switching the future is portrayed by the time aspect, the past and the present as if they are prevailing simultaneously. Though Billy's ideas make him appear crazy for anyone, we come to realize later on from the book that the brain of a person was created to think like Billy’s. that is, everybody daydreams, everybody fantasizes and only these can become real when one is living a world full of imaginations.

The historical happenings in this book cover the gruesome events of World War Two. According to history, the majority of Americans who were silent on the matter of World War who had to deal with social, political, and economic issues during the presidency of Johnson. In the 1960s, the Vietnam conflict had intensified without any side showing the sign of surrendering. In this period American failed to get victory over Vietnam despite its military and economic might. Vonnegut compared the conflict with Vietnam with his anti-war arguments which he stated that no party benefits from it.

Conclusion

Personally, I think "Slaughter House-Five" by Vonnegut is an ideal novel that has applied most of the social and political issues facing America. In pursuit of creating a great society, there is so much that can be drawn from this book. For example, racial clashes are war by itself and therefore the government is required to put an effort to see how it can be stopped. The completion and publication of this book came at the time when the American was struggling as a result of Vietnam clashes. The author of this novel criticizes the whole aspect of the America-Vietnam conflict. In conclusion, this book by Vonnegut is a response to gruesome incidences of World War Two.

Works Cited

Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughter-House Five. New York, New York: Random House, Inc., 1969.