Summary ratings: 3 stars
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Published: November 12, 2006
Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse-Five" is the tale of a World
War II veteran/soldier, Billy Pilgrim, whose wartime experiences and their effects lead him to the conclusion that war is unexplainable. The
paper shows that to portray this effectively, Vonnegut presents the story in two dimensions. as history and science-fiction. and the irrationality of war is emphasized in each dimension by contrasts in its comic and tragic elements. The historical
seriousness of the Battle of the Bulge and the bombing of Dresden are contrasted by many ironies and dark humor; the fantastical, science-fiction-type place of Tralfamadore is, in truth, an outlet for Vonnegut to show his incredibly serious fatalistic views. The paper shows that the surprising variations of the seriousness and light-heartedness allow Vonnegut to show
effectively that war is absurd, making the story an anti-war novel.
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