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

The Themes of Slaughterhouse-Five The moral of Slaughterhouse-Five is whatever you want it to be. That is the beauty of the handwriting. However, in his typically dark, sarcastic way, Kurt Vonnegut gives us several possible themes to explore. One of the themes relates to the way in which Mr. Vonnegut presents the human life span. Through his writing, Mr. Vonnegut poses an ancient question Are we get the hang of our destiny, or are we simply pawns of fate? The medium through which Mr. Vonnegut presents this fan out is decease. Death is the central point to which all action in the book connects. The story is primarily about the death of 135,000 German civilians in the bombard of Dresden. The story is also about he-goat Pilgrim, a man who experiences death from every viewpoint, a man who survives many life-altering experiences, and does not change at all. Through death, Mr. Vonnegut examines free will, and refutes it. He shows death as meaningless. The casual intercess ion of death demonstrates the futility of free will in human life. The first watch over of death occurs in the third sentence of the book. This same event is mentioned repeatedly throughout the book. Technically, the event occurs several metres. Edgar Derby, a man that the main character, Billy Pilgrim, and Mr. Vonnegut both know, is caught taking a teapot out of the rubble of Dresden. The three mens room captives, the Nazi Germany Army, execute Mr. Derby. This happens after the bombing of Dresden. 135,000 German civilians, who had no actually involvement with the war, were massacred all at once. Then one man is penalize for taking a teapot. This kind of irony is the principal tool of Mr. Vonnegut.The language So it goes, is perhaps the most famous aspect of Slaughterhouse-Five. Each time a death occurs, So it goes is repeated. The phrased is used indiscriminately, without regards to the importance of or the turning involved in the death. When Mr. Vonnegut mentions that Billys father was killed in a hunting accident, it warrants no more attention than a random Pole that Billy byword hanged while he was in Dresden. The death of the 135,000 Dresden citizens calls for no more affection than the death of a single hobo with whom Billy shares a make car as they and other prison houseers of war ride to a prison camp.