How Does Vonnegut Use Irony In Slaughterhouse Five

He shows irony in the fact that so many are focused on the creation of the destructive and devastating weapon; the atom bomb, when in fact, the more serious threat to humanity is the creation of Ice-9. This is ironic since few people know about, and most especially since it was created so marines would no longer have to walk in the mud. As well, Vonnegut focuses sarcastically on the illusion of love. He does this through the narrator Jonah, who thinks Mona can "make me far happier than any woman had so far succeeded in doing" (Vonnegut 64). Yet, this is humorous since we find later that Jonah does not really love her once he knows he can have her and that she will not give up her ways for him.

     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.

Where innumerous catastrophic events are simultaneously occurring and altering the mental capability of its viewers eternally, war is senseless killing. The participants of war that are ‘fortunate’ enough to survive become emotionally distraught civilians. Regardless of the age of the people entering war, unless one obtains the mental capacity to witness numerous deaths and stay unaffected, he or she is not equipped to enter war. Kurt Vonnegut portrays the horrors of war in Slaughterhouse Five, through the utilization of satire, symbolism, and imagery.

In order to illustrate the devastating affects of war, Kurt Vonnegut afflicted Billy Pilgrim with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which caused him to become “unstuck in time” in the novel. Billy Pilgrim illustrates many symptoms of PTSD throughout the story. Vonnegut uses these Slaughterhouse Five negative examples to illustrate the horrible and devastating examples of war. The examples from the book are parallel to real life experiences of war veterans, including Vonnegut’s, and culminate in a very effective anti-war novel.

In Slaughterhouse Five, Vonnegut uses satire in the topics of war, aliens, fate and the reasons for life itself. In Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, the author uses many literary devices to bring across his point including black humor, irony, wit and sarcasm. He mainly uses satire throughout the book. Satire is a literary device found in works of literature that uses irony and humor to mock social convention, another work of art, or anything its author thinks ridiculous to make a point.

Chapter 26- I actually learned the most out of this chapter about irony. Foster had a point about roads in literature, because of the authors of many books that talk about roads. We always seem to think that when roads are mentioned the character is on a journey, a trip, or a quest seeking the unknown. When in reality without those authors saying that the roads lead lead to somewhere or it means something, we wouldn’t have those expectations and that’s where the irony comes into play. I also learned that irony is meant to take all of our expectations and make them kind of turn against us. In literature we focus more n situational and dramatic irony. Irony is a deflection of expectations. My first example that relates to this chapter is “How

Many writers in history have written science fiction novels and had great success with them, but only a few have been as enduring over time as Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five. Slaughterhouse-Five is a personal novel which draws upon Vonnegut's experience's as a scout in World War Two, his capture and becoming a prisoner of war, and his witnessing of the fire bombing of Dresden in February of 1945 (the greatest man-caused massacre in history). The novel is about the life and times of a World War Two veteran named Billy Pilgrim. In Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut uses structure and point of view to portray the theme that time is relative.

Conversely, Hazel’s husband is handicapped with forty-seven pounds of birdshot strapped to his neck, and he is obedient to the government’s handicapped system. Vonnegut uses irony to demonstrate a dysfunctional Utopia in the society. In his story, Vonnegut uses irony to depict how easily a government can control its citizens, by assaulting their senses and individuality.

Influence of Early Life and War on Kurt Vonnegut Jr. to Encourage a Generation Against War

War can destroy and divide individuals. For instance, when Tim is asked by Mr. Heron to deliver a secret message, but his father doesn't want him to. The reason Tim was doing this is because he wanted to impress Sam, but father wouldn't let him because he could get lost or hurt. When Tim said,” … I didn't mean I have any opinion.” This shows that he doesn't know if he should go

Billy, the protagonist of this novel, also has bitter feelings about war. While he is in the zoo on the planet of Tralfamadore, he is able to communicate with the aliens. In a conversation with them, he says that he is from a planet "that has been engaged in senseless slaughter since the beginning of time" (p. 116). This "senseless slaughter" that he is referring to is war. Billly himself was in the war, but obviously thinks that there is no reason for it and by no means

War is a tragic experience that can motivate people to do many things. Many people have been inspired to write stories, poems, or songs about war. Many of these examples tend to reflect feelings against war. Kurt Vonnegut is no different and his experience with war inspired him to write a series of novels starting with Slaughter-House Five. It is a unique novel expressing Vonnegut's feelings about war. These strong feeling can be seen in the similarities between characters, information about the Tralfamadorians, dark humor, and the structure of the novel.

Authors use irony in literature in order to give double meanings and make it more interesting to the reader. In the play “ The Death of a Salesman” Arthur Miller uses irony as a strong writing technique in order to express the character's behavior. In “The Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller moments of situational and dramatic irony helps to illustrate the story's theme in which Willy is a man trying yo achieve the American dream, however he have created a world of illusion.

In the novel Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, a fictional character named Bill Pilgrim is used to depict the various themes about life and war. Vonnegut went through some harsh times in Dresden, which ultimately led to him writing about the tragedies and emotional effects that come with war. By experiencing the war first handed, Vonnegut is able to make a connection and relate to the traumatic events that the soldiers go through. Through the use of Billy Pilgrim and the other characters, Vonnegut is able show the horrific affects the war can have on these men, not only during the war but after as well. From the very beginning Vonnegut portrays a strong sense of anti-war feelings, which he makes most apparent through Billy Pilgrim.

Kurt Vonnegut is the author of the book Slaughterhouse Five. Of course it was controversial, and still is. The first chapter addresses the conflicts of creating such a novel in the first chapter of the book. In the book Harrison Starr questioned Vonnegut asking if his book were to be a war book. Vonnegut said it was and Starr “Why don’t you make an anti-glacier book instead?” (4). Vonnegut believed what Starr meant by that was wars, like glaciers, are as unpredictable and unstoppable. (4). As one gets farther into the book it completely changed dynamics. The novel then goes into the story of Billy Pilgrim instead of the autobiographical view from the first chapter. The three main literary elements in which will be focusing on analysing is theme,