Vonnegut

[Sethasagerund]

Perhaps this is cliche but who cares? What isn't? Regardless, I have to write an essay on why Kurt Vonnegut wrote slaughterhouse 5. So if any of you want to discuss something like the general effects of war and not just that you think it's stupid because if you say that you are one of the causes of war...that's right, ignorance is why everything bad in this world happens. Opinions are a must and lets treat this like there are two sides to everything, because there are-- in fact two doesn't begin to describe.

sincerely-seth

[B-Mental]

You should try to find "Fates Worse Than Death" by kv, he talks about the fire bombing and how he has no regrets. He had written for years, but I think that for many authors of WWII era their first books that made them popular were about their experiences. Slaughterhouse 5 is the story of how he escaped the monotony of his POW experience by recoiling into his own imagination to escape.

[subterranean]

The book is the expression of his antiwar sentiment...as simple is that. He was really outspoken about war, mostly cause of personal experience.


because there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre

[Sethasagerund]

I agree. It seems, like you said, that it isn't as shrouded as i once thought it was but essentially this thread isn't about Vonnegut it is simply...starting there it will end, never, so it goes. But I'm going to throw this out. War is simply society's suicide.

[A Hard Rain]

Well, one of the themes of Vonneguts SH5 if i remember right is the guy who has seen the way he dies. Or i believe its that his people blow up their own planet. Well, that character does not do anything to warn his people, (i say his people because i can't remember if he is human or tralmalfadorian or whatever)
and he goes about his life. So it goes...

Vonnegut associates himself with this character to some extent. He relates this character to his own existence because he sees and fears the same fate for humans. And while Vonnegut sees it himself, he wonders if he could somehow show others. There there is the undertone that ultimately, he can't. But he still tells his children not to participate in any type of massacre. He also write Slaughter House 5. It may just be that he feels he needs to do it for himself, even if he ultimately feels his attempts will be futile.

In this way, Vonnegut is like the character who sees his fate and its sort of sour, but we know that Vonnegut has not seen the fate of the world (or at least, i assume so) and while he may feel the world will end in nuclear winter, he still does what he does. He takes the next step and trys anyway, licked before the bell rings. He sees it through.

[PeterL]

I considered Slaaughterhouse 5 to be a strong statement about fatalism, that our lives are shaped by forces over which we have no control.