The Intricately Woven Themes of Slaughterhouse-Five :: Slaughterhouse-Five Essays

The elaborately Woven Themes of Slaughterhouse-Five At first glance Slaughterhouse-Five appears to bea simple story. It is a short account of a mansexperiences in World strugglefare II and the effects the war had onhis life. But by taking a deeper look intoSlaughterhouse-Five we see intricately woven themes,contrasts, and morals. Vonnegut has disguised a greatlecture against war and an relieveance of death through the fatuity and simplicity of Billy Pilgrim. Vonnegut begins the novel with a warning. His firstchapter subtly warns us that Slaughterhouse-Five has beendifficult for him to produce. This one is a failure, hewrites, since it was written by a pillar of salt (22 ch.1). The irony of this statement is that by looking defend intime Vonnegut accuses himself of idiocy, like Billy Pilgrim.Yet one of the briny themes of the entire choke is the bugsin amber or the existence of the past, present, and earlyall at once. In the overting chapter he also humbles his workby telling us how it begins and ends, stressing thesucceeding theme. Billy Pilgrim is a police captain of disguise. He serves asa superb mask that Vonnegut hides behind in order to get hismessages across without scaring readers away with boringlectures. Vonnegut wants us to accept life as it is and tounderstand that death is inevitable and something we mustnot fear. He indirectly lets us know that this isa realization that he has come to in his own life, mostlikely through the war experience, and invites us to followin his footsteps. Through his humor and lightheartedness hedoes not force these ideas on us but helps us to open ourminds to new ways of perceiving our lives. As the king of