Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five -- A Great American Novel

For a novel to be considered a Great American Novel, it must contain a theme that is uniquely American, a hero that is the essence of a great American, or relevance to the American people. Others argue, however, that the Great American Novel may never exist. They say that America and her image are constantly changing and therefore, there will never be a novel that can represent the country in its entirety. In his novel, Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut writes about war and its destructiveness. Vonnegut tells the story of Billy Pilgrim, an unlikely hero, mentally scarred by World War Two. Kurt Vonnegut explains how war is so devastating it can ruin a person forever. These are topics that are reoccurring in American history and have†¦show more content†¦Pilgrim recalled that the guards resembled a barbershop quartet as they â€Å"experimented with one expression and then another, saying nothing though their mouths were often open† (Vonnegut 227). The night of Fe bruary 13th to the morning of February 14th, 1945, Billy Pilgrim endured the firebombing of Dresden, which has come to be known as one of the worst bombings in history. More than 135,000 people were killed in the bombing and Pilgrim, along with a small group that took refuge in a meat locker, was one the few survivors of the bombing. Upon emerging, Billy Pilgrim and the soldiers discovered that â€Å"everybody in the city was supposed to be dead, regardless of what they were, and that anybody that moved represented a flaw in the design† (Vonnegut 180). The city of Dresden was compared to â€Å"the moon†¦, nothing but minerals† (Vonnegut 227). Even after the firebombing, the survivors were still surrounded in death-their method of transportation being a â€Å"coffin shaped wagon† (Vonnegut 278). The firebombing might have been the event that created the most damage for Billy Pilgrim and began his downward spiral into escape from reality. Pilgrim also cr eated an alternate world called Tralfamadore where death, free will, and time do not exist. Billy hid in this world and was able to convince himself that the beliefs of the small, alienShow MoreRelatedKurt Vonnegut : A Hybrid Of Science Fiction And Satire1716 Words   |  7 PagesLeanne Arata English 11 Mrs. Wheeler 5/8/2016 Kurt Vonnegut The idea of making a work that does not fit into a single category of work is how Kurt Vonnegut has become such a phenomenon. Kurt Vonnegut has a hybrid writing style which allows him to critique human nature and this is evident in his work. A hybrid writer is someone who makes something by combining two different genres to create something new. Vonnegut’s work is a hybrid of science fiction and satire. 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