Slaughterhouse- 5

I don’t even know where to begin discussing this story.  The chaotic mixture of stories and time travel left me confused, yet somewhat satisfied as I finished the book.  The novel, written in true Tralfamadorian fashion, illustrated a mixture of moments, as it followed the life of Billy Pilgrim. Billy Pilgrim’s life is described through flashbacks (time travel) that Billy experiences, including his childhood, time at war, marriage and family, time in Tralfamadore, and even his death.  With the various different stories flying at you, and changing at any times moment, it was hard to keep track.  It wasn’t until I got about half way through the novel that I started to comprehend the some of the story; however, an unsettled atmosphere reigned throughout my reading. With the confusing story line, I appreciated how Kurt Vonnegut wrote in simple and understandable language.  The simple language helped compensate for the constantly changing, and uniquely structured novel.

Personally, black humor is not my favorite.  This book was saturated with gory, depressing, and heartbreaking events, all stated in a matter-of-fact way.  For example, the phrase “so it goes” was used several times throughout the book in response to someone, or something’s death.  This same phrased is used after the death of a human, animal, bacteria, and even in description of the dead champagne.  I found it a little unsettling how Vonnegut paid each of those things the same respect.  I would have hoped that a human death or the death of thousands would receive a more sympathetic response than that of a beverage.   In addition, I found it interesting that at one point Vonnegut describes people as merely human beings (Page 90).  The position he took towards death seems to resemble the same view of death that is taken during war, and in this case towards the Dresden Bombing.  Individuals are not people any longer. They do not have feelings, dreams, and futures.  Humans are simply human beings. Billy Pilgrim offers a good example of this lack of individualism.  He simply let the world take control of his future.  I pity Billy in this story with the life that he lived.  He was not treated well during the war and even after the war by his family, but he just let it happen.  This book brought to a light a few concepts I learned about in one of my psychology class, one being Learned Helplessness as described above. 

The last part of the book offered some closure and completed somewhat of a full circle in discussion of the Dresden Bombing. I thought it was interesting how there were two different point of views implied.  The over tone of the book suggested the Kurt Vonnegut didn’t agree with the bombing; however, Vonnegut offered another view of the bombing through the character Professor Rumfoord. In all, this read was not that bad.  While the structure left me feeling uncomfortable throughout, Slaughter House 5 was an easy read and offered some great insight.