Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Book Analysis

War brings out the worst in people and fosters truly traumatic events for those involved. During these events, however, humans have a natural, ingrained method of enduring. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut illustrates his experiences during World War Two and specifically the infamous Dresden bombing. This novel expands on the reader's understanding of human nature through religious allusions and empathy. Billy and other characters use religion to give purpose to the purposeless and to justify the unjustifiable. Strangers of different sides and lives also empathize with one another and help each other at their most vulnerable. Kurt Vonnegut used religious allusions and empathy to depict how human nature prevails in the worst of situations; through his detailed and subtle examples, he illustrates how soldiers such as himself and Billy mentally survived the war. 

During some of Billy's most traumatic memories, he uses religion to justify what he is enduring. One moment that he specifically relives was his capture by a group of German soldiers. Billy's capture would undoubtedly lead to him enduring neglect and abuse as a prisoner of war but instead, in his travel through time, he focuses on the good, as that is human nature. He describes the German soldier as being just like him: "irregulares, armed and clothed fragmentarily with junk taken from real soldiers" (Vonnegut, 67). Instead of simply seeing the enemy in the Germans, he sees himself: a young, unprepared teenager who was dragged into this war. He then turns his attention to the German commander, who is more like Weary than himself. Instead of finding a connection between them, he finds beauty in the commander's boots. Unknown to Billy at the time, the commander cared more for his boots than even himself. He claimed that if you look "deeply enough you'll see Adam and Eve"(Vonnegut, 67). Adam and Eve represent a loss of innocence and, more specifically, a loss of innocence in the presence of evil. This religious story justifies the soldiers, as they were forced to lose their innocence at the hands of an evil war. Billy, on his own, also sees Adam and Eve in the gold boots, reinforcing that all the soldiers on both sides need something meaningful in the midst of their currently inconsequential lives. Staring into the boots, he too sees the "vulnerable" and "innocent" Adam and Eve, two descriptions that used to characterize Billy (Vonnegut, 68). Now in a religious mindset, he turns once again to one of the young German soldiers. Through the boy's "swaddled in rags" feet "shod with hinged wooden clogs," he is able to see "the face of a blonde angel"(Vonnegut, 68). He thinks the boy is as beautiful as "Eve." In the Garden of Eden, innocent and good Eve was once penetrated by evil, and through un-avoidable events, was corrupted by shame and guilt. This boy, even after being corrupted by evil, still resembles Eve. This allows Billy to feel nothing but love for the opposing soldier, justifying the event as an unavoidable tragedy between infiltrated souls. 

War puts many on the same level, and it does not discriminate against those of different sides or experiences; when the U.S bombed Dresden, the abandoned American Soldiers and innocent German civilians empathized and helped each other. The U.S bombing of Dresden was, at the time, thought to be the most destructive bombing in the history of the world, with an early estimation of 200,000 dead. Billy, a prisoner of war at the time, was imprisoned in Dresden along with hundreds of other U.S soldiers. Instead of attempting to rescue them, The U.S deemed them worthy sacrifices in search of an Axis defeat. The bomb was supposed to spare no lives, and later when the group was seen roaming, American planes "sprayed them with machine-gun bullets" (Vonnegut, 230). The Americans did not care who died, leaving the innocent German civilians and loyal U.S soldiers on the same, disregarded status. Having no access to food nor water, the group of one hundred and four trekked across the now moon-decorated landscape and found their way to a small inn outside Dresden. This German family knew that "Dresden was gone" and had seen it "burn and burn"(Vonnegut, 231). When the innkeeper spoke, he held no anger or disgust for the American soldiers. Instead, he welcomed them in and offered that they could sleep in their stable. Despite these soldiers being on the side that had just caused so much death and destruction, the innkeepers saw them as the victims they were. They can empathize with the people in front of them, not as U.S soldiers but as a group of men in need of help. He gave Billy and his comrade's food and drink, and without hostility, he said, "goodnight Americans," "sleep well" (Vonnegut, 232). The Germans helped the Americans because that is human nature, to empathize with those who have experienced what you have experienced. Especially in a moment of significant loss, the Innkeepers take this opportunity as a chance to gain something rather than push away more. 

Kurt Vonnegut used religious allusions and empathy to depict how human nature prevails in the worst of situations; through his detailed and subtle examples, he illustrates how soldiers such as himself and Billy mentally survived the war. During some of Billy's most traumatic memories, he uses religion to justify what he is enduring. War puts many on the same level, and when the U.S bombed Dresden, the American Soldiers and German civilians empathized with one another. This novel expands on the reader's understanding of human nature by illustrating that it truly is human nature. No matter a character's background, age, beliefs, or position, they all had similar ways of coping and creating purpose and justification. With this more profound understanding of human nature, the reader can take away that there is always a way to find meaning and purpose at any moment, no matter how trivial it may seem to others. Through this, we indeed can endure our worst moments multiple times, whether we are time traveling or stuck in our memories. 

Work Cited:

Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse-Five. New York, Dial Press Trade Paperbacks, 2007.