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Slaughterhouse Five
Slaughterhouse Five
By Kurt Vonnegut
THEME
THEME
The traumatic experiences of war leads to deterministic stoicism within the pawns of a senseless war, which is derided by the socio-political satire of Kurt Vonnegut's writing style.
“There is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre. Everybody is supposed to be dead, to never say anything or want anything ever again. Everything is supposed to be very quiet after a massacre, and it always is, except for the birds. And what do the birds say? All there is to say about a massacre, things like "Poo-tee-weet?” (19)
“Trout, incidentally, had written a book about a money tree. It had twenty-dollar bills for leaves. Its flowers were government bonds. Its fruit was diamonds. It attracted human beings who killed each other around the roots and made very good fertilizer.” (167)
“It is just an illusion here on Earth that one moment follows another one, like beads on a string, and that once a moment is gone, it is gone forever.” (27)
“ 'Why me?'
'That is a very Earthling question to ask, Mr. Pilgrim. Why you? Why us for that matter? Why anything? Because this moment simply is. Have you ever seen bugs trapped in amber?'
'Yes.'
'Well, here we are, Mr. Pilgrim, trapped in the amber of this moment. There is no why.' ” (76, 77)
" 'I think you guys are going to have to come up with a lot of wonderful new lies, or people just aren't going to want to go on living.' " (101)
“There are almost no characters in this story, and almost no dramatic confrontations, because most of the people in it are so sick and so much the listless playthings of enormous forces. One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters.” (164)
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