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Review of Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

World War II Classic Novel Slaughterhouse 5 Analysis and Themes

Nov 26, 2009 Jenny Evans

Seeing Slaughterhouse Five on any classic novels list is no surprise. This World War II novel by Kurt Vonnegut deals with time, coping, and war in an unconventional way.

There is no other war (or anti-war) book quite like Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five. The novel follows chaplain's assistant Billy Pilgrim through the events of World War II, with an unusual twist: time travel and alien abduction is used to explore themes like time, death, and the absurdity of war.

Literary Merit of Slaughterhouse Five

The novel's film adaptation in 1970 was not a huge hit, but the Slaughterhouse Five book has been on reading lists for high school and college students for decades. In different areas and eras it has been banned or caused controversy, but no one denies its unique literary contribution.

Kurt Vonnegut and Slaughterhouse Five are often included in lists of classic American novels such as Time magazine's 100 Best English-Language Novels from 1923-Present and Modern Library's 100 Best American Novels.

Use of Time in Slaughterhouse Five

Billy Pilgrim's tale is told not in a linear fashion as one would expect, but as a disjointed narrative that echoes the fragmentation of the war and its violent effect on the lives of those involved. Slaughterhouse Five doesn't depend so much on suspense as it does upon the reader grasping the horror of each moment on its own.

Among the things Billy Pilgrim learns from the aliens is that time itself is not linear. On one hand that is comforting, because it means that the pleasant moments of life always exist somewhere and that death is not permanent. On the other hand, the horrible moments of war are also eternal and Billy relives them again and again through his time travels.

Theme of the Absurdity of War in Slaughterhouse Five

Among the dominant Slaughterhouse Five themes is the illogical and unexplainable nature of war. Billy's fantastic story of alien abduction is shown to be no less absurd than the reality of wartime to the individual soldier – so true or not, it may as well be.

Visiting with the aliens and being a P.O.W. in World War II are both fantastical and life-altering events that have impacted Billy deeply in opposite ways: the aliens from Tralfamadore provide him a way to cope with the situation of World War II.

Slaughterhouse Five Publication Information

Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse Five, or The Children's Crusade. Delacorte Press/Seymour Lawrence, New York: 1969. The book can be found by searching for ISBN 0-385-31208-3.

Since its appearance in 1969, Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five has garnered both controversy and praise for its unconventional methods to describe war and its aftermath.

The copyright of the article Review of Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut in American Fiction is owned by Jenny Evans. Permission to republish Review of Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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Jan 17, 2010 7:10 PM
Aimee Larsen Stoddard :
I spent three months in Dresden last year and read Slaughterhouse Five while I was there. It's definitely a unique book that conveys its message in an unconventional way. There's a tour in Dresden of the actual slaughterhouse where Vonnegut was held as a POW. Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to go on the tour.
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