The Tragedy of World War II in Slaughterhouse-Five, a Novel by Kurt Vonnegut

Every day, many people die in war. This is a fact that people shy away from talking about. Soldiers die too young, too soon. Someone’s child, brother, sister, mother, or father is dying in the wake of unnecessary violence When people are approached with this problem, they feel powerless to stop the untimely deaths of young men and women who fight our wars. People live in denial every day of the grief that is happening all over the world because of something senseless, however, almost every person thinks that is someone else’s job to fix the problem.

World War II is a historical example of placing responsibility on another‘s shoulders, Slaughterhouse». Five, by Kurt Vonnegut, follows the tragedy of this war, Mother’s watched helplessly as their sons and husbands were sent to war, to fight in countries on the other side of the world There was little protest to the fighting and little protest to the war, People counted down the days until their loved ones came home, or counted up the days since their loved one passed away.

Change was not on the minds of these families People dream of a future where war will be nonexistent, or fear the day another world war starts. Through the use of different definitions of time, Vonnegut displays the theme of how the illusion of time and free will causes apathy to war, leading to a lack of attempt to prevent it.  Throughout the novel, Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Billy Pilgrim experiences his life through time travel, in fractured chronological orders He skips around from event to event in his life, not in sequential order, as time normally goes As the narrator explains, “Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time”.

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In Pilgrim’s life, he is kidnapped by aliens, from Tralfamadore, a place where time is in four dimensions and not linear like on Earth. On Earth “one moment follow[s] another, like beads on a string” while on Tralfamadore “there is no beginning, no middle, no end.”

All events happen simultaneously and repeat endlessly. Vonnegut uses this contrasting definition of time in comparison to normal Earth time Time is important to depict Vonnegut’s message because, without the fractured time, the reader would not have understood the purpose of Tralfamadorian thinking and philosophy. The entire universe would supposedly come to an end on accident because of a Tralfamadorian experimenting with new fuel types. All Tralfamadorians know of this event, as their Lime is not a linear progression of events, but they are apathetic to change it or try to stop it. This is seen by Pilgrim while on the alien planet, when a Tralfamadore states, “He has always pressed it, and he always will. We have always let him, and we always will let him, The moment is structured that way” Instead of attempting to stop the destruction of the entire universe, the Tralfamadorians watch without interference as the event occurs because their time does not work that way Due to four-dimensional time.

Tralfamadorians lack the ability to see what they can and cannot change in their world, instead, they view all events as concrete By seeing all events as concrete, they are passive in their own lives, People are lead to believe that they have no choice in most things in their lives, causing them to believe they cannot change anything even if they try. This is seen through Billy Pilgrim. There are many examples in Pilgrim’s life that lead him to be apathetic to change his situation, At the beginning of his life, in an attempt to teach him to swim, his dad throws him into the pool, where he sinks to the bottom Pilgrim would rather sink, as he had no choice in the matter of swimming, and then is rescued against his will. Later, he is drafted into a war he does not want part in. Being drafted causes him to feel like he has no choice in the course of his life.

During the war he wants to avoid, he experiences the worst bombing in history in the city of Dresden, where he is a prisoner of war, and is one of few survivors. The war scars Pilgrimr He is seen later to have mental instability as result of the war. All of these events compound into Pilgrim’s apathy toward change, as he believes that he has little choice over the events in his life. This thinking is echoed by the Tralfamdorians, Later, he is kidnapped by the Tralfamadorians. During his time there, he learns about four dimensional time and Tralfamadorian philosophy. The quote, “So it goes”, follows all deaths in the novel. This phrase is used by Tralfamadorians as a comfort when people die, because they are alive in other moments in their life, and they will always be alive there, This is used by Pilgrim to comfort himself, as the person is alive at other moments in their life and therefore did not really die, as taught by the Tralfamadorians.

He uses this phrase to convince himself that the people he once knew did not die in the war. “So it goes” is used to follow the deaths of humans and plants alike. Its use becomes humorous throughout the novel because the death of a human being and the death of building or inanimate objects are equated to be the same. This philosophy aids Pilgrim in accepting the events that happened to him in life by teaching free will is an illusion, only seen on Earth, meaning that war is an inevitable event. Through the use of black humor as seen by the aliens and Pilgrim‘s time travel, Vonnegut shows that war is ridiculous. The ridiculousness is seen through the description of Pilgrim’s appearance, referring to the soldiers as boys, and the events during the war.

Vonnegut wants the reader to understand that things can be changed, In order for the readers to see this, Vonnegut employs black humor to exemplify the absurdity of war and the loss that it entails. His message is seen by the sign in Pilgrim’s office that states, “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom always to tell the difference”. This sign encompasses Vonnegut’s message to the reader; find the differences between what cannot be changed and what can, and fight to change those things. Vonnegut wants war to end. Before war can be stopped, people must realize that they have the power to change the course of their lives towards a war-free existence. Without time being out of order, the different definitions of time would not be as important to the overall message, destroying the theme of the novel; the illusion of time and free will causes apathy to change life’s path.

Vonnegut wants the readers to follow the prayer. Change what can be changed in life, and accept what cannot be, but recognize that war can be changed Slaughterhouse-Five is a novel that is out of chronological order This is seen to be important in the theme of indifference towards change. The comparison of four-dimensional time on Tralfamadore has used a comfort for Pilgrim but used humorously by Vonneguti He wants people to want to stop war, to concern readers with the unnecessary loss they are facing Overall, Vonnegut wants to prompt belief that things can be changed to the readers Death by war is not inevitable, Mothers should not have to lose their children to war. Time is a linear progression on Earth. Events are not concrete “All time is time”, and change is possible.