I chose to read Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut for my independent reading book. Slaughterhouse-Five is an anti-war novel about a man named Billy Pilgrim who has fought during World War II and experienced the catastrophic bombing of Dresden. The narrative starts off with the normal parts of Billy’s life, he’s an optometrist living in Ilium, New York who has two kids and a wife. But, this traditional narrative is quickly broken up as Billy gets in an airplane crash where he was the only survivor. Promptly afterward he goes on NYC radio stations telling everyone that he has been abducted by Tralfamadorians, beings from another planet. Her daughter gets very upset with Billy who has seemed to go insane from the crash. While she keeps on trying to contain Billy, he’s very persistent in getting his message of the Tralfamadorians out. He even spreads things that he has learned from these so-called “Tralfamadorians”. While I haven’t gotten very far in the book, so far, the pages I have read have been filled with interesting dialogue and characters which has intrigued me. I feel like in the end, the book will shed light upon how war took an innocent man and turned him into a lunatic. By doing showing one innocent man’s sanity get taken by the war, Vonnegut shows that others could and have faced similar things. Through all of this, Vonnegut thoroughly gets his anti-war sentiment across.
In the book Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Vonnegut adopts an unreliable narrator to immerse the readers into a mind with PTSD. By taking the reader through the mind of a possible-PTSD carrier, Slaughterhouse-Five not only spreads awareness for PTSD but also shows how severe it is. One of the aspects about the book that I also greatly enjoy is that it isn’t solely about the war. But, it’s more specifically about how the war impacted Billy Pilgrim’s life. I think Vonnegut so far has created a great medium in which he uses a plot that is forced to incorporate war but doesn’t overdo it by basing the story entirely on war. Through this Vonnegut can thoroughly show the atrocious side effects of the war while not over-describing the gory parts of the war for too long.
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Although I’m reading a different book, I was tempted to pick Slaughterhouse-Five. What war can do to people is a serious issue, and it’s important to see this topic in novels like these. I can’t help but think this book could have some similarities to The Things They Carried, have you noticed any?
Why you speaking straight facts Cole? While you might be reading a different book, your supurb ability to connect real-life issues with literature is amazing. To answer your question, I would say that there are many similarities to The Things They Carried, although, they are both share their anti-war sentiments in different forms.
I appreciate your mention of the unreliable narrator. It is such an effective tool to immerse the reader completely into the book; not knowing whether the information they receive is reliable or not is a great way to keep the readers guessing and on their toes.
Although I am reading a different book, the main character in this book seems to be going through the same change in personality and conscience as Guy in F451. I like the fact that you mentioned the underlying themes of the book as well.