Subjects:
be divided into several distinct stories all combined to convey one theme. The major theme
focuses around the central character of Billy Pilgrim before, during, and after the war.
Vonnegut himself plays a major role in the novel as narrator and witness of World War II.
The difficulties Vonnegut had in the writing of the actual novel are also examined in the
novel. All of these issues revolve around the main theme, the shock and outrage over the
havoc and destruction man is capable of wreaking in the name of what he labels a worthy
cause (Schatt 84). Vonnegut had tremendous difficulty writing this novel. He says, I
thought it would be easy for me to write about the destruction of Dresden, since all I
would have to do would be to report what I had seen (Vonnegut 2). He did not count on
his emotions getting in the way with his attempts of doing this. It took Vonnegut twenty
years to directly face his private demon of the firebombing of Dresden in the form of this
novel (Lundquist 48). He had trouble recalling any memories of importance about his time
in Dresden. In order for Vonnegut to write his Dresden novel, he had to find a wa
. . .
Vonnegut reexamines the bombing of Dresden, he relates the event in a way that shows
the reader his personal view of the incident. This is part of the reason why he had such a hard time trying to
recall events of significance that could be put into his novel. He reinvents himself and his universe so that
he can go on living in sanity. He goes there in attempt to make sense out of what he has
witnessed at Dresden and give order to the disorder of the universe, and most especially,
find an explanation for war and destruction. Vonnegut
finds it very difficult to understand how a world can nearly ignore a massacre like World
War II, but at the same time find a man guilty and deserving of death for stealing a little
teapot. He cannot accept that human nature would allow something as dreadful to
happen as Dresden to take place and therefore decides that his perception of reality must
be totally wrong. He is then reminded of his stay in a veteran's hospital and is transported there, where
he has to listen to his roommate complain about him as if he's not there. The
Tralfamadorians see the futility in trying to overcome human depravity because it is the
only constant available in this chaotic universe (Schatt 91). He continues on his time travels and manages to rescue
himself and his personal sanity through his own imagination. More that two-hundred thousand
people were killed outright, burned to death, or died after. On his revisiting of
Dresden, a cab driver who took him back to the slaughterhouse relays holiday wishes to
Vonnegut .
Essay's Topics
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