Post-War Insanity Essay

Slaughterhouse-Five book is antiwar novel, and it written by Kurt Vonnegut. A man named Billy Pilgrim who is unstuck in time, and always goes all relives various occasions throughout his life. Billy pilgrim is a main character in this book. “Billy is born in 1922 in Ilium, New York. He grows into a weak and awkward young man, studying briefly at the Ilium School of Optometry briefly before he is drafted” (Borey 1). Then, after training he sent to the Germany during the war. Billy acknowledges diverse values and sees horrible and morbid occasions in a different contrast to others. Billy experiences acknowledges a lifestyle that is not visible to other people. Many readers would contend that Billy's encounters make him crazy; however,

Kurt Vonnegut’s basic concern in these two novels is based on the complexities of human situation. Kurt Vonnegut mainly focuses on the disordered cycle of life and death to which all human beings are inseparably bound. His works represent the purely existential horrors faced by men due to the uncontrollable growth in the technical

Vonnegut creates many scenes with dark humour. The author bases the book on Billy’s state of mind after the war. Billy’s thoughts are not all negative, as expected. Montana Wildhack, young actress, conceives a child with Billy after two weeks of being in Tralfamadore together. He finds her attractive and appears as a total fantasy to Billy. While in New York, Billy tells the world about his perception of time and Tralfamadore, he imagines Montana in the zoo nursing their six-month-old baby. Vonnegut uses black humour in many of his works. Black humour makes us laugh, even in a serious situation. “Vonnegut was an American original, with a vision that combined social criticism, wildly black humor and a call to basic human decency” (Woo). The British officers who welcome the American prisoners into the POW camp is another example of dark humor. The British officers start a musical show of Cinderella on the first night. They even entertained the Germans, who held them

What was it like living during the Great Depression? What strategies did Australia use to get out of the Great Depression?

Throughout his career, Kurt Vonnegut has used writing as a tool to convey penetrating messages and ominous warnings about our society. He skillfully combines vivid imagery with a distinctly satirical and anecdotal style to explore complex issues such as religion and war. Two of his most well known, and most gripping, novels that embody this subtle talent are Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse-Five. Both books represent Vonnegut’s genius for manipulating fiction to reveal glaring, disturbing and occasionally redemptive truths about human nature. On the surface, Cat’s Cradle and Slaughterhouse-Five are dramatically different novels, each with its own characters, symbols,

Kurt Vonnegut reflects his life during World War II as a German prisoner through his character Billy Pilgrim in the novel Slaughterhouse-Five. While enlisted in the US Army, Vonnegut had life threatening experiences that were inspiration for his writing. Vonnegut was a young boy during the Great Depression and was raised through the hardships of the time. As a child, Vonnegut’s father worked as an architect, but during the Great Depression, the building industry was brought to a halt and Vonnegut’s father was out of a job. He was out of work for ten years, yet Vonnegut says they had never gone hungry or felt unsafe. Once things started to get worse, Vonnegut’s mother began writing to provide for their family (“Kurt”). Soon Vonnegut enlisted in the US Army, and just one year after that, his mother killed herself. While in Germany, Vonnegut was taken prisoner and put in several prison camps. Since Vonnegut was held prisoner, he experienced the bombing of Dresden firsthand (“Slaughterhouse-Five”). Vonnegut repeatedly reveals that he encountered trouble writing this book because he must explain the tragic things that he experienced (Freese). Vonnegut wrote this story to show how terrible war is in his eyes and he gives his opinion of stopping war through his characters and events that made it interesting to readers (O’Sullivan).

Life for all those at home in the United States, during World War II was extremely difficult. With the beginning of World War II, a multitude of challenges came about for the American people. This is including, the importance found in rationing all food, gasoline, and even basic necessities such as clothing, water etc. Something else that America faced was that; since all the men were off fighting in war, women had to step up and do all things that they normally never would have to do. This includes working in the factories, as well as building the necessary equipment for the war, such as planes, tanks, etc. One last thing that came about was the fact that American citizens who were not fighting in the war, would help as much as they possibly could when the soldiers would return home. Many eligible soldiers came home for the holidays in 1942. They would come home with open arms. Many people took them in to their homes for Christmas or drove them across the country to their families. America was able to keep control during this tough time, but succeeded in making sure that when the soldiers came home, life would be back too normal.

Written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. His book took close to twenty-three years to finish, due to a internal strife. His book was still in writing during the times he went back to Europe to visit the old battlegrounds he had once fought in. Vonnegut served the during World War 2 and was a American P.O.W., to the town of Dresden, where he and other captured American prisoners were forced to do work. During the years he was captured he lived in an underground made facility. During his stay, Allied Forces fire bombed Dresden, close to 100,000 people were killed. The times he was trapped in Dresden, and the friendly fire attack and the obliteration of close to hundred-thousand people left emotion scars. The visits back to Europe,

From President Truman to President Nixon there was a belief that communism in Southeast Asia jeopardized American interests. President Johnson sent over a half million troops to mediate the civil war happening in Vietnam.

It is 1918 and women have recently been struggling with being treated unfairly because of the war. But, as the Great War is now taking place women are actually getting their rights and freedoms. Since the men have had to go to work and even some have been drafted and made to go work the women are now taking over their jobs to keep the economy running. The women are excited and glad they can finally work so they can prove they can do anything men can do though. They are having to work in factories mostly that are extremely dangerous and filthy. But they are willing to do whatever that needs to happen.

Kurt Vonnegut jr. was an American author with a gloomy view of humanity, survived WWII on the front lines, was captured by Germans, and the first 3 books he wrote were about a universe with no purpose. Even with all these downfalls there is no doubt that Kurt Vonnegut was one of the greatest writers of his time.

WWII and the war in Iraq were two vastly different wars, due to the time period, differences in technology, which countries were involved, and their purposes. However, the soldiers who fought in these wars share the fact that they chose to spend their youth bravely fighting for their country. The difference in the documentaries created about these wars is eye opening. The filmmakers and photographers during WWII put their lives at risk to document the battles and bravery of the U.S. soldiers. They were on the frontlines of the war, whereas the other documentary on Tortuga explored what happens on the every day, daily life of the soldiers who are not on the frontlines. This seems much safer for reporters. Viewers got and inside look at what goes on in the soldiers’ minds and what their lives were really like in both films. Due to the time period of WWII, the working conditions veterans described seemed much more brutal. My impressions of what it means to be in the service have not necessarily changed; rather, my appreciation and knowledge of what it means to be a soldier have deepened. It is one thing to understand and it is another to truly sympathize and put oneself in a soldier’s shoes, to feel the adrenaline, fear, loneliness, and courage that are his daily regime. Documentaries have a special effect that other films simply cannot achieve, and that is the reality of the story. Nothing has been dramatized and hearing these people’s stories, hearing it come from them with

Kurt Vonnegut once said, “So it goes” to describe the unavoidableness of fate. This aspect of seeing terrible things and being able to continue on would become a main theme in his novels. Vonnegut, as an author, received his essential voice by writing about his own experiences, using what would become his signature pessimistic yet humanist view. Vonnegut is described by Lindsay Clark as, “Worse than a pessimist… he is an eternal optimist doomed to disappointment” (Clark, “Viewing Four Vonnegut Novels through the Lens of Literary Criticism”). Moreover, Vonnegut has combined literature with science fiction and humor, the ridiculous with pointed social commentary and has created his own unique world within his novels and filled them with essentially different characters, such as the alien race known as the Tralfamadorians in Slaughterhouse-Five. Furthermore, Vonnegut’s personal previous experiences would play a massive role in his later novels. His experience at Dresden would define Slaughterhouse Five and other aspects of his life, such as his mother’s suicide would appear in works such as Breakfast Club. Moreover, works such as Cat’s Cradle, would give Vonnegut the essential audience he needed to be a successful writer. Overall, personal experiences and a powerful satirical view define Vonnegut as an author.

Kurt Vonnegut’s novel, Slaughterhouse-Five, both captured and played an important part in history. Largely regarded as an anti-war novel, Slaughterhouse-Five was written as Vonnegut’s response to war. A large part of what makes the novel so impactful is the firsthand experience of the author, having fought in and lived through WWII. The book was written in the middle of the Vietnam War, at the peak of American involvement, making tensions high as many began to question whether or not it was right to get involved at all. Upon the release of Slaughterhouse-Five, many people for the first time realized the true effects of war, and for some, it reiterated their anti-war stance. Many regard then novel as Vonnegut’s best work, possibly due to his refusal to hold anything back, for his desire to acknowledge the truth of war.

War is a fact of life. As long as there are humans, there will be war. In past times, for a man to go to war, it was viewed as romantic and heroic. But, these ideas have faded and vanished throughout the course of the 20th century. War can be horrific, like a bad nightmare, and can easily break the human spirit, which is not a t all fragile. In his novel, "The Wars", Timothy Findley develops the idea that war, in and of itself, is meaningless, unjustified, and irrational. PART I