Slaughterhouse Five Literary Analysis

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In the very beginning of Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut retells a conversation he once had with moviemaker Harrison Starr. Within this conversation, Starr stated, “You know what I say to people when I hear they’re writing anti-war books? I say, ‘Why don’t you write an anti-glacier book instead?’” Billy goes on to explain what Starr meant; he meant that wars are as impossible to stop as glaciers thus downplaying the effectiveness and necessity of anti-war books. Vonnegut says that he agrees with Starr. However, Vonnegut still constructs Slaughterhouse-Five as an extremely anti-war novel. Along with a synopsis on the back of the novel which reads, “Slaughterhouse-Five...is one of the world’s greatest anti-war books,” Vonnegut uses his memory …show more content…
When Vonnegut’s main character, Billy, first arrives as a prisoner-of-war in Dresden, he describes Dresden as “a Sunday School picture of Heaven.” Vonnegut also states that Dresden had been the most lovely city most of the Americans had ever seen. Also, the Americans are reassured numerous times throughout their journey to Dresden that they will be safe there as Dresden has not and probably will not be bombed. Vonnegut continues by commenting on the bustling economy of the city in which “steam radiators still whistled cheerily...[and] streetcars clanged.” However, this depiction of Dresden is soon followed by a much more grave and upsetting image. Contrary to the popular belief, Dresden did become a target of an Allied bombing, and not just an ordinary bombing, but a firebombing. Billy and his group of American prisoners-of-war were fortunate to be stored inside a meat locker in a slaughterhouse, so they survived the bombing. Upon emerging from their meat locker the day after the bombing, Vonnegut describes a scene of complete devastation; he writes, “The sky was black with smoke. The sun was an angry little pinhead. Dresden was like the moon now, nothing but minerals. The stones were hot. Everybody else in the neighborhood was dead.” Vonnegut also comments on the obvious intention of the bombing stating that “absolutely everybody in the city was supposed to be dead, …show more content…
Despite discouragement from his peers, Vonnegut takes on the task of creating a successful anti-war book in Slaughterhouse-Five. When he talks about “children” fighting and dying and innocent families being obliterated, Vonnegut plays on the readers’ emotions invoking feelings such as pity towards those that are negatively affected and anger towards those who are responsible for wars. If those who control war were to witness the devastation and hurt caused by it firsthand, then they would not be as eager to send “babies” off to fight and die and order the complete destruction of entire
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