Kurt Vonnegut - An Anti War Book

It was difficult for women, for the men too old to fight and the boys to young but so much wanting to fight, to understand exactly what the war meant and what it was like because they hadn't experienced. This is why I find Barker's book so powerful, because she captures the traumas and the devastating effects of fighting without so much as one chapter being set in France. Though it may seem detached to some, the book encapsulates the effects of the war but back at home, making them all the more painful and real, because the most painful part of these effects is coping with them whilst trying to adjust to life and people back home. Barker explores the confused and

In “War and Massacre” by Thomas Nagel, Nagel argues that there are limits on what can be done to an enemy even its for the sake of overall good. He believes that such an idea is grounded on the principles of Absolutism, where morality is determined by the action itself (deontology). This is contrary to the view of Utilitarianism, which relies on the premise that Morality is determined by its consequences (Consequentialism). Although could one in fact generate such a moral structure around war? Do the ends justify the means in War? Through identifying with a real-life example, I will look to expand on Nagel’s account where an action taken by a country in war would be prohibited even if it were for the overall good.

The novel, Slaughterhouse Five, written by Kurt Vonnegut incorporates complex ideas such as the destructiveness of war, the insignificance of time, and the morality of suffering through his first-hand experience of the cruelty of bloodshed in World War II. Desperation dictates the actions of society as the desire of survival urges the importance of crucial decision-making. The fictional world of the Tralfamadorians, the struggle faced by patriotic war soldiers, and the uneasiness among the civilians attempt to pursue the beautifulness of life within perplexing situations. The absence of free will alleviates tormentful lives.

In Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five he talks about many different themes. He quotes, makes fun of, and uses many different themes. I would like to talk about one major theme in Slaughterhouse Five, religion. In the book he uses religion to teach important lessons, he used it as inspiration, and he even pokes fun at religion.

Willing to go to war without knowing the deeper meaning of the situation? That’s what Vonnegut didn’t want to connect with his views. Vonnegut uses tactics to put the readers into a different dimension than the normal approach such as, using literal terms to bring life into a situation that doesn’t normally have light shed upon. Into much simple terms, war does not make boys into men. But it turns into much more devastating results. And depicts how a mature situation can’t turn boys into men but into mentally ill individuals. "He is in a constant state of stage fright, he says, because he never knows what part of his life he is going to have to act in next."(Vonnegut 23). These young

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

Undertones of War; was written by Edmund Blunden. Edmund Blunden (1896-1974) Edmund was conceived on 1 November 1896 in London, brought up in Kent and taught first at Christ's Hospital, where he found an ability for calligraphy, and after that at The Queen's College. In August 1915, in the midst of World War I (1914– 1918), Blunden was charged as a minute lieutenant into the British Army's Royal Sussex Regiment. He was exhibited on the eleventh Battalion , Royal Sussex Regiment, a Kitchener's Army unit that surrounded bit of the 116th Brigade of the 39th Division in May 1916, two months after the power's entrance in France. He gave the power on the Western Front straight up to the complete of the war, sharing in the exercises at Ypres and the Somme, followed in 1917 by the Battle of Passchendaele, and getting the Military Cross all the while. Blunden survived almost two years in the forefront without physical damage (in spite of being gassed in October 1917), in any case, for whatever is left of his life, he bore mental scars from his experiences. With trademark self-censure he ascribed his survival to his small size, which made "a subtle target". His own record of his as often as possible horrible encounters was distributed in 1928, as Undertones of War. Undertones of War' is a 1928 diary by Edmund Blunden, in light of his encounters in France and Belgium from late 1915 to mid 1918; the target group is for those to comprehend his experience through the war and after. It

“If I truly believe the war is wrong, is it then also wrong to go off and kill people? If I do that, what will happen to my soul?” (pg 60). Tim O 'Brien is an American man who was drafted into the Vietnam War. O 'Brien is not a violent man and struggles because he believes that the war is wrong. He debates whether or not he should go to war or move to Canada to avoid the draft. Tim O 'Brien decides to join the army. O 'Brien uses his personal experiences as a foot soldier in the Vietnam War to convey his possible bias perspective that the Vietnam War was a waste of people 's lives and a shameful venture for the United States.

    Published in 1994, The Best War Ever, was written by Michael C.C Adams. The purpose he wrote this book is to feature the idea that the achievements made during the war has undermined its failures. He describes all the aspects of World War II, whether positive or negative. Adams aims to avoid glorifying the war and counterbalance these ideas with “vilification.” (1) However, his credibility is questioned as he fails to report each disturbing detail as it was. He stretches the negative truths, a primary source would be more beneficial than this book. Adam states it himself, “ This book does not claim to be a definitive

First, the reader must understand just what makes a good "war story". The protagonist of the novel, Tim O'Brien, gives us his

The author writes of many different human beings, showing that each one thinks war is ultimately, the worst thing. While in the war, Billy is in the hospital during his imprisonment by the Germans. There is an old general there who was a teacher before joining in the war efforts. One day, in a conversation with Billy and another older man in the hospital, the general starts to talk about what he thinks of the war. He says, "You know-- we’ve had to imagine the war here, and we have imagined that it was being fought by aging men like ourselves. We had forgotten that wars were fought by babies. When I saw those freshly shaved faces, it was a shock. "‘My God, my God----’ I said to myself, ‘It’s the Children’s Crusade’" (p. 106). This general feels that war is nothing but babies being murdered by one another. He is disturbed by the thought of war and the fact that so many young people are dying for its cause.

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.

Death; destruction; crawling, bloody men without jaws; and a child in the middle of it is just a glimpse of the grotesque short narrative “Chickamauga” by Ambrose Bierce. Chickamauga Creek is an area near Chattanooga, Tennessee and northwestern Georgia, plagued by war, suffering, and bloodshed from the Civil War (Bohannon). Bierce served in the Union Army during the American Civil War (Campbell). Many Americans then, and today, romanticize war with glory, heroism, and patriotism. Bierce defied literary status quo, creating graphic accounts of war, in an age of sentimentalism and melodrama (Morris). Lesser publicized were the perspectives, thoughts, and realities of the soldiers after serving and surviving in the civil

With the knowledge of war you have today, would you be willing to volunteer to sign up for the front line?

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut and Catch-22 by Joseph Heller both have a striking resemblance in the themes of anti-war and of free will. Both don’t come into full force right in the beginning but eventually become more evident. Both novels focus on one character throughout the entire novel, and each protagonist is affected by all the events around them. It changes their perspective and how they view life as a whole. Both Billy in Slaughterhouse Five and Yossarian in Catch -22, dislike war and are known as anti-war heroes. They also believe in the idea that they have free will and that their actions can be controlled. What makes these two novels so different from other war novels is that both protagonists don’t die for their