The Intricately Woven Themes of Slaughterhouse-Five :: Slaughterhouse-Five Essays

The Intricately Woven Themes of Slaughterhouse-Five At first shine Slaughterhouse-Five appears to bea simplistic story. It is a short account of a mansexperiences in World War II and the effects the war had onhis life. But by ta female monarch a deeper look intoSlaughterhouse-Five we see intricately woven themes,contrasts, and morals. Vonnegut has disguised a greatlecture against war and an credence of shoemakers last through theidiocy and simplicity of billy goat Pilgrim. Vonnegut begins the novel with a warning. His firstchapter subtly warns us that Slaughterhouse-Five has beendifficult for him to produce. This one is a failure, hewrites, since it was written by a pillar of salt (22 ch.1). The irony of this teaching is that by looking back intime Vonnegut accuses himself of idiocy, like Billy Pilgrim.Yet one of the main themes of the entire work is the bugsin brownish-yellow or the existence of the p ast, present, and futureall at once. In the scuttle chapter he also humbles his workby telling us how it begins and ends, stressing the deliver the goods theme. Billy Pilgrim is a master of disguise. He serves asa brilliant mask that Vonnegut hides behind in order to get hismessages across without scaring readers external with boringlectures. Vonnegut wants us to accept life as it is and tounderstand that death is inevitable and something we mustnot fear. He indirectly lets us endure that this isa realization that he has come to in his own life, closelylikely through the war experience, and invites us to followin his footsteps. done his humor and lightheartedness hedoes not force these ideas on us but helps us to open ourminds to new ways of perceiving our lives. As the king of