Death In Kurt Vonnegut's A Tale Of Two Cities

     Critics of Kurt Vonnegut’s are unable to agree on what the main theme of his novel Slaughterhouse Five may be. Although Vonnegut’s novels are satirical, ironical, and extremely wise, they have almost no plot structure, so it is hard to find a constant theme. From the many people that the main character Billy Pilgrim meets, and the places that he takes us, readers are able to discern that Vonnegut is trying to send the message that there will always be death, there will always be war, and humans have no control over their own lives.

The first way Kurt Vonnegut’s manipulation of time contributes to the effectiveness of Slaughterhouse-Five as a whole is that it allows an easy transition between life and death. Vonnegut repeatedly uses the phrase “So it goes.” throughout his novel. Every time death occurs in the novel, the phrase is used, which then leads to a transition to life. For example, when Billy is in Dresden he recounts a time where he saw a Pole hanged for having sexual intercourse with a German woman. This results in Vonnegut ending the

Resurrection is a common theme for stories. In order for someone or something to be resurrected, it must first be created and then dilapidated. The focus in A Tale of Two Cities is on the dilapidated and resurrection portion of this pattern. There are a myriad of examples in this novel of resurrection. Specific people, groups of people, and even France are all examples of resurrection in A Tale of Two Cities. The theme of resurrection applies to Sydney Carton and Dr. Manette in A Tale of Two Cities written by Charles Dickens.

The point of view that Slaughterhouse-Five is written from also affects the way the reader fells about time after reading the novel. Since the story is narrated by a omniscient being that is everywhere with Billy Pilgrim, the reader gets a first hand account of every event in his life. Also Billy is very relaxed and accepting all things around him. A good example of this is Billy's habit of following every death with "so it goes". (Vonnegut 69) The repetition of this phrase not only de-emphasizes death, but also helps Vonnegut assert control over the readers response after a death. (Dawley 2) The way Billy

The theme death has always played a crucial role in literature. Death surrounds us and our everyday life, something that we must adapt and accept. Whether its on television or newpaper, you'll probobly hear about the death of an individual or even a group. Most people have their own ideas and attitude towards it, but many consider this to be a tragic event due to many reasons. For those who suffered greatly from despair, living their life miserably and hopelessly, it could actually be a relief to them. Death effects not only you, but also those around you, while some people may stay unaffected depending on how they perceive it.

Vonnegut is very keen to express his choice of words throughout the novel, Slaughterhouse-Five. The phrase that is mentioned the most is “so it goes”. This phrase is mentioned over a hundred times at full length of the novel. At every time someone dies in the novel or a tragedy happens Vonnegut ends the passage with “so it goes”. Because the main focus of the novel is on the bombing of Dresden, Vonnegut is making a point that the war is awful but inevitable. He uses repetition to promote how common and cruel war and death is, in the big scheme of things. An observation done by Allen says “The plain old death will be there anyways. It leads us to the idea that, given that we all must die anyway, often cruelly or prematurely. The commonness

The Slaughterhouse Five novel, is a fictional and nonfictional delight all clashed into one. The author, Kurt Vonnegut, amazingly combines a fictional character’s life with the nonfictional influence of what Kurt himself had experienced. As well as major topics being debated on and dealt with today. Billy Pilgrim takes hold of the story’s main protagonist as a prisoner of war during the Dresden raids in eastern Germany. While reading, I found many relationships in the novel to common concerns, such as time and death; too correlated opinions from other anti-war enthusiasts.

People allow adversity to rid them of hope. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut highlights the pitfalls of mankind in their perception of love, death, war, and societal norms through the unusually clear lenses of Billy Pilgrim. Pilgrim’s acceptance towards life relieves him of the weight of the world; however, even Pilgrim is unable to remain indifferent about war. Billy Pilgrim encounter with the Tralfamadorians granted him an extraterrestrial way of thinking.

Kurt Vonnegut’s background had an endless influence upon his writing. In his early years, Vonnegut was a private in the 106th infantry division in World War II. He and five scouts were caught behind enemy lines, and then captured. They were held POWs and were beaten on various occasions. In 1945, they witnessed the fire-bombing of Dresden, Germany. Kept during this time in a slaughterhouse, this is part of the inspiration for Slaughterhouse-five. After being released from the Slaughterhouse, Vonnegut called Dresden “utter destruction” and “carnage unfathomable”. This distressing time in his life led to one of the many themes of Slaughterhouse-five which is that nothing good can come from war and a massacre. This theme

Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five is a telling work of fiction that blends the author’s experiences with the horror of war with a touch of science fiction and a healthy dose of humor. The novel guides us through the experiences of a man on a journey in both directions of time, through war, and the delusions brought on by the horrors therein. The pilgrimage Billy is on is broken up by milestones that read “so it goes”. The journey is a vessel for Vonnegut to show the reader how war can desensitize a man to death and cause him to recede into coping mechanisms, but that a man cannot be desensitized to suffering.

In Vonnegut's “Slaughterhouse Five” he demonstrates how death is a thing that is out of our control and happens to everyone. Vonnegut throughout the book portrays Billy's feeling and emotions towards death in many ways: through his different phrases and the ways he talks about his own death. Billy uses this quote after talking about a death that has occured over his lifetime.

The phrase “so it goes” is repeated 106 times in Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five. From “dead” champagne to the massacre at Dresden, every death in the book is seemingly equalized with the phrase “so it goes”. The continuation of this phrase ties in with the general theme on indifference in the story. If the Tralfamadorian view of time is correct, then everyone is continuously living every moment of their life and dying is not the end. However, if Vonnegut believed in this idea, then he wouldn’t have felt compelled to write about the firebombing of Dresden. It is clear that both Billy Pilgrim and Kurt Vonnegut are affected by the massacre they saw, but they have different ways of rationalizing it. Billy finds comfort in the Tralfamadorian view of life, whereas Vonnegut disagrees, and urges the reader to disagree too. The constant repetition of “so it goes” breaks the reader away from the Tralfamadorian point of view, and allows them to come to their own conclusion that although it would be nice to forget the bad parts of life, it is important to remember all of the past. Vonnegut helps the reader come to this conclusion by repeating the phrase after gruesome moments, and showing how meaningless life can be if the Tralfamadorian ideas are believed, as seen through Billy Pilgrim’s bland life..

Death is normally a touchy subject that calls on sensitive word play in order to protect the reader of the work. Rather than this careful toeing of the line with this subject, like most books, Kurt Vonnegut completely hurdles said line in his book Slaughterhouse Five. Despite the large quantity of deaths mentioned throughout the story, what is most shocking is the lack of sensitivity after each death occurs. Instead of acknowledging each death with a sorrowful goodbye, the narrator repeats the same mantra of “So it goes” after each occurrence (Vonnegut 25). Given that it is rare for a story not to further a plot using death, it is an odd comment that sticks out from the rest of the story. It is a curious addition to the situation that begs

Picture this. The father of modern crime and detective stories, known as Edgar Allan Poe, is sitting down about to write a beautiful piece of writing and BAM! He whisks away into a story of love, death, and just plain out horror; either characters are losing someone near and dear to their hearts or they are plotting to kill. Edgar Allan Poe, at a very young age, lost both of his parents, and later on in life, lost his wife to tuberculosis, so in one way or another, these stories reflect off of his personal experiences. A major theme in Poe’s writings is death. The theme of death is seen throughout the works of Annabel Lee, the Cask of Amontillado, the Raven, and the Black Cat.

The oldest of eight children, Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth in 1812. Dickens experienced a very traumatic childhood which included the ordeal of seeing two of his brother pass away. John Dickens, his father, worked as a clerk in the Navy Pay Office, due to his occupation, the Dickens family had to move a lot. Financial problems led to the imprisonment of John Dickens, who couldn't afford to look after all his family. The whole of Charles Dickens' family soon followed in suite, except for Charles himself though. Instead Charles was taken out of school and made to work in a filthy warehouse, sticking labels on bottles of boot-black for long