ENG 311: Persuasive Writing
“Wow, Holy Moly!” an audible reaction of mine to finishing a fairly short, but fiercely poignant, anti-war novel. The best way I can summarize the story structure is to say it’s about a guy writing a book about another guy’s whole life story, with a dash of alien abduction and a sprinkle of time travel, when he met him only a couple of times. Slaughterhouse-Five was, what I can honestly say, an interesting read.
I first heard about this gritty anti-war book from, believe it or not, Footloose. In a film about the essence of dance and freedom of expression, I found a book recommendation about alien abduction and prisoners of war.
Ren McCormmack’s character from the film overhears that the local school is having the book read and the parents are outraged. McCormmack tells them that book is a classic, with which I would have to agree. They instantly fell silent with a shocked looks on their face, as if he spat on their precious baby, and deemed the book should be banned in schools. Of course, this caught my intrigue. What could this book be about that would cause a whole town to be in an uproar?
I had to get my hands on this masterpiece.
Kurt Vonnegut writes about the life of an American soldier Billy Pilgrim. From his capture to becoming a prisoner of war in the final years of World War II, through the scattered memories of his life both before and after the war. To add the cherry on top, Vonnegut subtly adds in time travel when Billy Pilgrim is abducted by the Tralfamadorians. Aliens who are fascinated with the human race that reside outside space and time.
Holding back the pleasantries, and wasting no time, Vonnegut jumps directly into the narrative from the very first line. The bombing of Dresden. This is the titular event that is mentioned in the first sentence while remaining as a motif throughout the book. An omniscient-like narration recounts vague events of the war, leaving clues to the impending devastation of the events at Dresden towards the end of the book. Then introducing our leading man, Billy Pilgrim. No one has had it as bad as Billy. Time and time again, Billy is kicked down by life (literally and figuratively). I found myself screaming at the pages, “Please let the man have one good day, Just one!”
Oh Billy, where to begin? Unpopular. Squirmish. Prefers sinking to swimming and was bullied by his fellow soldiers in his unit. Joining the family optometry business at eighteen, he is enlisted and joins the war. When he gets back, he is later abducted by the Tralfamadorians and begins traveling through time. Recounting events from his youth, his life with his daughter, what life was like when he got out, and the lingering memories from the war. There he faces meaningless slaughters, people starving to death in gruelly weather, and the aforementioned events of Dresden. So it goes.
Ah, So it goes. There is no skipping past the 106 times Vonnegut says “So it goes”. It wasn’t until halfway through the book I connected the dots. He masterfully places the phrase after each mention of death. Death in war, death in his life, death from the Tralfamadorians. It’s the narrator, and Vonnegut, way of conveying the passive acceptance that comes with death. Alluding to the theme of allowing some things to remain out of our hands. We can not control death any more than we can control war. So it goes, as it will always go. One of the unchangeable constants.
It’s almost comical how casually he introduced the Tralfamadorians. It was not a big spectacle. No grand introduction. Just, BAM, alien abduction. Again, Vonnegut is a straight-to-the-point kinda guy. Initially viewed as absurdity conveyed as a stroke of genius. Vonnegut’s dark humor adds a glimmer of comic relief through his satiric voice. There were moments when I questioned if I should be laughing at the Tralfamadorians being shaped like toilet plungers. Or the awkwardness of Billy meeting the famous actress on the alien ship Especially the fact that they have an onboard “zoo” for the humans.
Even though it’s fairly short, it does not make it such an “easy read”. Quite the opposite, but don’t let that intimate you.
He writes in a way that reminds me of what my English teachers in school would urge the class against: “Write like your audience knows nothing about what you’re talking about”. He wrote the complete opposite. As if his audience was familiar with every visceral details about war, Dresden, and his friends. Subtly dropping names and bringing back the characters midway through the book. Telling a story halfway through, then backtracking, only to skip ahead to finish the story from twenty pages back. Don’t even get me started on the Time Travel. In the span of one page, Billy can travel from pre, post, and back to during the war, and some part in the middle on the Tralfamadorian ship that is somehow separated from time and space. Yet it works.
Yes, it’s confusing, and yes it’s hard to read at times but it serves the larger plot. The nonlinear structure shows the effects war has on those that serve, both mentally and physically. Billy’s memories are all jumbled together, alluding to his feeling of being unsuck in time.
So, why was the town of Footloose distraught by this book? Was it Vonneguts abrupt obscene language? His depictions of sexual or violent acts? Maybe they couldn’t handle the harsh realities of the long-term effects war has on those who served. Or the lack of patriotism Vonnegut illustrates that they, and many others outside of the film, have sought out the book to be banned in public school systems?
With that said, I can confidently say it is one of the best books I have read. Spending the day at work, counting down the seconds where I can finish the chapter to find out what other misfortunes Billy has stumbled upon. Reading closely to each short and direct sentence traveling back and forth in time within a single page. I urge you to read the book. Realize why the absurdity of the Tralfamdorians is a stroke of genius, and decide for yourself. Either you are on the side of McCormmack or the town of Footloose.
Works Cited
- Montagnino, Autumn. “Vonnegut by the Numbers.” Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library, 4 May 2022, https://www.vonnegutlibrary.org/2018/07/vonnegut-by-the-numbers/#:~:text=As%20most%20Vo nnegut%20fans%20could,than%20once%20every%20three%20pages.
- Rushdie, Salman. “What Kurt Vonnegut’s ‘Slaughterhouse-Five’ Tells Us Now.” The New Yorker, 13 June 2019, https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/what-kurt-vonneguts-slaughterhouse-five-tells-us- now.
- Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse-Five, or, the Children’s Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death. Random House Publishing Group, 2009.
Maya Young 