Kurt Vonnegut Influence On War
Kurt Vonnegut was an outstanding author in the second half of the 20th century. He is a staple writer in regards to satire and dark humor. Many of his novels and stories were influenced by his experiences as a soldier during the second world war. I believe that Kurt Vonnegut is a prominent author because of how he grew up in the Great Depression, his most famous novel Slaughterhouse-Five, and the controversy surrounding his works.
Kurt Vonnegut got much of his influence from his young life. He was born on November 11th, 1922 in Indianapolis, Indiana (Gale Contextual Encyclopedia of American Literature 1609). His family was very privileged, for his father was a successful architect, and his mother was from a wealthy family. Because the Germans …show more content…
It was published in 1969, and is based on his experiences as a prisoner of war in Dresden (“Slaughterhouse-Five” 258). It also talks about the Dresden firebombing, which killed about 25,000 people (Authors and Artists for Young Adults 202), but was commonly published to exaggerate to “...135,000 German civilians killed in the Allied firebombing of Dresden” (“Slaughterhouse-Five” 265). The story is about a man named Billy Pilgrim, who is “unstuck in time” (“Slaughterhouse-Five” 266). The theory in the story is that all moments, past, present, and future, have always existed and always will exist. Normal people like us are stuck seeing the moments in order, but he travels unexpectedly to random points in his life. Like the book’s author, he is captured by the Germans and witnessed the bombing of Dresden. Later in his life, he is abducted by aliens called the Tralfamadorians (“Slaughterhouse-Five” 261). They are the ones who introduce him to the time theory, and how life and death are ultimately meaningless because of it. This novel is also interesting because of how Vonnegut is a character that appears in his own book (264). Themes that appear in the book include alienation, loneliness, free will, apathy, passivity, death, and patriotism (264). There is symbolism that highlights issues in society and war. Lastly, the book uses black humor to highlight the absurdity and the inexplicability of war’s
Kurt Vonnegut got much of his influence from his young life. He was born on November 11th, 1922 in Indianapolis, Indiana (Gale Contextual Encyclopedia of American Literature 1609). His family was very privileged, for his father was a successful architect, and his mother was from a wealthy family. Because the Germans …show more content…
It was published in 1969, and is based on his experiences as a prisoner of war in Dresden (“Slaughterhouse-Five” 258). It also talks about the Dresden firebombing, which killed about 25,000 people (Authors and Artists for Young Adults 202), but was commonly published to exaggerate to “...135,000 German civilians killed in the Allied firebombing of Dresden” (“Slaughterhouse-Five” 265). The story is about a man named Billy Pilgrim, who is “unstuck in time” (“Slaughterhouse-Five” 266). The theory in the story is that all moments, past, present, and future, have always existed and always will exist. Normal people like us are stuck seeing the moments in order, but he travels unexpectedly to random points in his life. Like the book’s author, he is captured by the Germans and witnessed the bombing of Dresden. Later in his life, he is abducted by aliens called the Tralfamadorians (“Slaughterhouse-Five” 261). They are the ones who introduce him to the time theory, and how life and death are ultimately meaningless because of it. This novel is also interesting because of how Vonnegut is a character that appears in his own book (264). Themes that appear in the book include alienation, loneliness, free will, apathy, passivity, death, and patriotism (264). There is symbolism that highlights issues in society and war. Lastly, the book uses black humor to highlight the absurdity and the inexplicability of war’s