Slaughterhouse-Five Vonnegut - 1418 Words

Throughout Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut chooses to use special literary techniques that better explain his own encounters in war as well as help his readers bare the horridness of war. Vonnegut adds black humor in his text to benefit readers as well as â€Å"an author-as-character† perspective to set barriers and help protect his own memories in the war. Without adding these two specific devices, Vonnegut could possibly have lost reader’s interests in the book or lost his own interest in writing the book. Vonnegut includes himself in scenes within Slaughterhouse-Five to portray an â€Å"author-as-character† unique style. It is in the tenth chapter when Vonnegut switches points of view to reveal himself as one of the soldiers alongside Billy.†¦show more content†¦Another literary device Vonnegut uses within his Slaughterhouse-Five is black humor. This is found in the book so readers are able to feel more lighthearted when remembering the war. There are t hough, critics who believe by adding black humor, Vonnegut is degrading the tragedy of war. I believe Vonnegut uses black humor in his attempt to console readers (as well as himself), in hopes of making the horrific, painful, unthinkable events of the war more bearable to read about. Just in the first chapter readers see Mary O’Hare’s frustration towards Vonnegut for even wanting to write a book about the war in the first place. â€Å"You were just babies in the war- like the ones upstairs! // â€Å"†¦You’ll pretend you were men instead of babies, and you’ll be played in the movies by Frank Sinatra and John Wayne or some of those other glamorous, war-loving, dirty old men. And war will look just wonderful, so we’ll have a lot more of them. And they’ll be fought by babies like the babies upstairs.† Mary does not even know what Vonnegut is going to write about the war and here she is yelling at Vonnegut, showing her feelings of the pain caused by the war. There are many other people in the world that will be just like Mary and be completely against a book based on the topic of war because it is such aShow MoreRelatedSlaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut534 Words   |  2 PagesSome people may think the novel Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut is a failure. In fact, Kurt Vonnegut himself calls it a failure. A lot of people disagree with that, many think that Slaughterhouse Five is one of Vonneguts best novels. They say it is the most successful book they have ever read, just for reasons of the author himself. From him being bluntly honest, to his great wit. So if it is such a failure in his eyes, why did he write it, what was his purpose, and why was it even publishedRead MoreSlaughterhouse Five By Kurt Vonnegut1458 Words   |  6 PagesThroughout the novel Slaughterhouse-Fi ve by Kurt Vonnegut Barry Sadler singer of the song Ballad of the Green Beret and novelist Kurt Vonnegut maintain comparable tones regarding their literature pieces representing the war and the underlying image that is portrayed by the Green Beret. Sadler insightfully states that the impacts that committed soldiers fought through and the sacrifices their families had endured: represents honor, courage, and is described as jingoistic. It is an exceptionallyRead MoreSlaughterhouse Five By Kurt Vonnegut1154 Words   |  5 PagesTaylor Holmes In the novel Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut presents a framed narrative voiced through an unreliable narrator that stimulates the presence of universal and empirical truths. (Introducton?) 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In doing so, Vonnegut uses tone to reveal the extremely violent and unruly nature of war and flashbacks to show how war causes Pilgrim to lose touch with reality. Throughout the story, Pilgrim goes back and forth through timeRead MoreSlaughterhouse Five By Kurt Vonnegut1348 Words   |  6 PagesSince the last time I wrote a journal, I started and finished Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five and started Neal Stephenson’s Seveneves. Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five had a total of 275 pages, and Neal Stephenson’s Seveneves has a total of 854 pages, however, I am currently on page 50. Slaughterhouse-Five is a piece of historical fiction that explores the hardships of war, the odd simplicity of death, and the confusing topic of time. The novel stars Billy Pilgrim, a physically weak and strange