A reflection/response to Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five.
Enjoy -- and stay curious.
Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five is filled with sociological concepts that illustrate the troubling journey of protagonist Billy Pilgrim––a war veteran who repeatedly comes “unstuck in time” and relives the trivial moments of his life. Despite the natural tendency to read in chronological order, Slaughterhouse-Five adopts a circular approach to time, urging the readers to acknowledge that every event in a book has already been written and understand the validity of categorizing time as a fourth dimension. By implementing ruptured linearity, meaningful motifs, and the presence of the narrator as a character, Vonnegut defies conventional features of a novel in an attempt to correct humanity’s vision of time and perception of life.
Vonnegut adopts a non-linear narrative to support the subjectivity of time and return to distinct moments in the past through memory, a common form of time travel. As the novel progresses, events are not presented in a direct manner but are rather recounted partially. To a large extent, Vonnegut attempts to follow the template of a Tralfamadorian novel that consists of “no beginning, no middle, no end” by using dotted breaks to separate the narrative into smaller pieces (which become ‘novels’ in itself) and largely neglecting any form of suspense (Vonnegut 112). Regardless of whether or not Slaughterhouse-Five fulfilled the standards of a Tralfamadorian novel, Vonnegut successfully communicates the importance of cherishing life’s most pleasurable moments. Following Billy’s expected abduction by the Tralfamadorians, the alien race explains that “there is no why,” and all events in life are predestined––opposite ideals absent on planet Earth (97). While the Tralfamadorians assert that free will remains non-existent due to the cyclical nature of time, Vonnegut encourages the readers to challenge the dichotomy of fate and free will: Can fate and free will coexist, or are the two mutually exclusive? One rare instance we see Billy fight determinism is when Billy observes American fliers “[becoming] high school kids” by rewinding a war movie and hypothesizes that “everybody turned into a baby” and created a society of purity and innocence (95). Despite his passivity during the war, Billy actively attempts to disrupt the normal progression of war, illustrating Billy’s hope to undo the suffering of war and construct an ideal environment free of destruction. Ultimately, individuals have the ability to appreciate a particular moment in life or apply a pessimistic view that all time is all time.
The extensive use of “echoes” and motifs greatly contributes to establishing ruptured linearity, thereby allowing Vonnegut to emphasize the importance of compassion for humanity’s success. In moments of discomfort and uncertainty, the phrase “nestled like spoons” frequently appears in the narrative and serves as visual imagery to convey sentiments of security and unity. Though living conditions within Pilgrim’s train were dire with limited ventilation, the narrator notes the “mosaic of sleepers who nestled like spoons,” including the hobo and Billy on Christmas night (90). Vonnegut deliberately inserts a motif representative of warmth during a vulnerable phase of the war to highlight that compassion and selflessness are essential in overcoming challenges in life. Even when faced with death, Billy positions himself “in a fetal position” and tries to “nestle like a spoon with others,” or at the least, “[nestle] with thin air and cinders” (188). Again, Vonnegut uses repeated imagery to underline the necessity of solidarity to cope with traumatic experiences and demonstrate that no part of the novel is isolated from any other as well (perhaps, all parts of the novel are ‘nestled like spoons’). Each iteration of a motif suggests that a section, as minor as it may be, belongs to a bigger consideration of human conditions; while individual events initially appear fragmented, Vonnegut’s imagery and motifs develop the pieces of the novel into a cohesive whole.
In hopes of condemning humanity’s perceptions of certain ideals and urging for social change, Vonnegut enlarges the scope of the novel by introducing metaphoric stories written by Kilgore Trout: Vonnegut’s literary alter ego. The parallelism between Vonnegut and Trout is strongly reflected in the fact that both authors heavily utilize elements of science fiction as a vehicle for conveying critical commentary on the values of American society and, by extension, on the human condition. The blind attraction a human feels for personal enrichment is parodied in Trout’s “The Money Tree,” which features a tree with twenty-dollar bills instead of leaves, government bonds instead for flowers, and diamonds in exchange for fruit. In humanity’s unbridled desire to obtain possession of the riches sprouting from this fantastical tree, “human beings [...] killed each other around the roots and made very good fertilizer”––a depiction of the excessive importance humans attach to money and material possessions (213). In another story, The Gutless Wonder, Trout criticizes the dehumanizing aspect of war by introducing a robot that drops incendiary bombs yet feels no guilt. Similar to Trout’s other stories, The Gutless Wonder presents a great moment of irony: Despite the bomb’s destructive consequences, “nobody held it against [the robot] that he dropped jellied gasoline” (214). Vonnegut not only voices his concerns about war’s ability to convert a man into a killing “machine,” but also exposes the way American society accepts the cruelty of war as natural. For Vonnegut, reality is full of corruption and incongruities; however, it is not a question of turning a blind eye to this panorama, as Billy does, and nonchalantly saying, “So it goes.” It is a matter of confronting reality and attempting to seek the best for others. Thus, Trout serves as the prophetic voice that emphasizes the necessity to combat human flaws with compassion and solidarity: a key message which Billy unfortunately fails to grasp.
Kurt Vonnegut once said, “A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved.” In Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut effectively conveys the flaws of humanity’s perception of the world by adopting several unconventional features of a novel, suggesting an urgent need for behavioral change in society. In essence, Vonnegut encourages the readers to become positive contributors to society who foster genuine ‘love’ and care, rather than Billy, who largely resists change.
Works Cited
Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse-Five. Dial Press, 2009.
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