Patrick DePeters

Kurt Vonnegut is a German-American who witnessed and lived through the fire-bombing of Dresden as a prisoner of war. From this title page, the reader knows that the anecdotes in this novel are told in a “telegraphic schizophrenic manner.” Can we rely on this narrator to provide a truthful and accurate tale? The novel cannot be characterized as an anti-war book, for those types of books are just as useful as “anti-glacier” books. The stories told are from the vantage point of the narrator, Vonnegut, but the attention is focused on the protagonist Billy Pilgrim. Billy Pilgrim, like Vonnegut, is an American infantry soldier who is taken as a prisoner of war. He is essentially thrown into the war, and protected for a short time by a less then zealous comrade, Roland Weary. Billy is placed at the mercy of the opposition, German soldiers. He witnessed and survived the bombing on Dresden. Billy travels through time to various points in his life. He makes frequent visits to mental hospitals. He is abducted by aliens from a remote planet, Tralfamadore. And from all of his vast and varied experiences, he makes profound conclusions about the nature of human kind. Vonnegut, who had “found life meaningless, partly because of what he had seen in the war,” tried “to reinvent himself and his universe.” [1]

The physical image of the title page resembles the crucifixion image of Jesus Christ. It may also resemble a bomb. Both of which are important symbols in this novel. We are told that Tralfamadorians don’t believe in Jesus Christ, but instead believe in the work of Charles Darwin. Darwin believed that all of nature is based on the principle “survival of the fittest.” He believed that everyone who was meant to pass away died. Jesus Christ, much like the nurses at the hospitals, believed that all life is sacred and should always be cherished. The American soldiers proved to be more fit for survival than the German city of Dresden, and as a result—destroyed the city. Is this novel historically accurate? Not quite. Does it have components of truth in it? The reader only knows that the bombing actually did happen; the rest has to be deciphered for oneself.

This novel was not written because “there is anything intelligent to say about a massacre,”[2] but instead because it was a story worth telling, one that was hardly recognized by the history texts. Billy Pilgrim’s illogical patterns of thinking and multiple absences from reality offer the reader valuable insight on human beings, and specifically—the attack on Dresden.

His one-volume history of the Army Air Force in World War Two was supposed to be a readable condensation of the twenty-seven-volume Official History of the Army Air Force in World War Two. The thing was, though, there was almost nothing in the twenty-seven volumes about the Dresden raid, even though it had been such a howling success. The extent of the success had been kept a secret for many years after the war—a secret from the American people” (191).

            There are two titles to Vonnegut’s book. “Slaughterhouse-five” is the foremost title, which is a reference to the meat locker beneath a slaughterhouse that the prisoners of war resided in during the bombing. The following is a descriptive excerpt about the Slaughterhouse:

The Americans were taken to the fifth building inside the gate. It was a one-story cement block cube with sliding doors in front and back. It had been built as a shelter fro pigs about to be butchered. Now it was going to serve as a home away from home for one hundred American prisoners of war. There were bunks in there, and two potbellied stoves and a water tap…their only English speaking guard told them to memorize their simple address, in case they got lost in the big city. Their address was this: “Schlachthofunf” (153).

It is ironic because the slaughterhouse was a place that pigs would end up before, during, and after their execution. This may have been the case for the prisoners of war had the bombing not occurred. However, the slaughterhouse served as a protective fortress against the bombing. Vonnegut promised Mary O’Hare that he would title his book on Dresden, “The Children’s Crusade.” O’Hare read a passage to Vonnegut when the title came up in conversation during Vonnegut’s visit:

History in her solemn page informs us that the crusaders were but ignorant and savage men, that their motives were those of bigotry unmitigated, and that their pathway was one of blood and tears. Romance, on the other hand, dilates upon their piety and heroism, and portrays, in her most glowing and impassioned hues, their virtue and magnanimity, the imperishable honor they acquired for themselves and the great services they rendered to Christianity (15-16).

There is a striking resemblance between this description of the crusades and the War with Germany—specifically the bombing of Dresden. The American bombers are portrayed as being “ignorant and savage men”—fulfilling their bombing missions with no remorse despite the “blood and tear” shed that they caused. The American soldiers walked away from the bombing with a sense of heroism and “imperishable honor acquired for themselves.” Vonnegut tries to address this ignorant and naïve reaction to such a monstrosity. Vonnegut’s American soldiers are insinuated as being allegorical robots. The notion comes from Kilgore Trout’s novel “The Gutless Wonder.” An excerpt from Kilgore’s book recognizes the mindlessness of the bombings. It reads:

It was dropped on them from airplanes. Robots did the dropping. They had no conscience, and no circuits which would allow them to imagine what was happening to the people on the ground (168).

The subtitle included beneath the other two titles reads, a duty-dance with death. A duty is a necessary obligation to a particular group or allegiance. Vonnegut connects duty with the word dance. This is interesting because dance is usually correlated with having a good time and being physically free. There was nothing fun or free about this duty in Germany. It may refer to Vonnegut’s, and or Billy’s close calls with death, and the tiptoeing he did around his fate.

            Dresden, or “The Florence of the Elbe,” was one of the most architecturally and culturally beautiful cities in all of Europe. Although Dresden was a center with a strong industrial complex, there was no military base there. An Englishmen commented to Billy on how fortunate Billy was to be going to Dresden—a place of resources, peace, and life. He said:

You lads are leaving this afternoon for Dresden—a beautiful city, I’m told. You won’t be cooped up like us. You’ll be where the life is, and the food is certain to be more plentiful than here…you needn’t worry about bombs, by the way. Dresden is an open city. It is undefended, and contains no war industries or troop concentrations of any importance (146).

The Englishman was right about how Dresden was, but he did not predict an open attack on the peaceful city. He tells Billy not to worry about bombs, giving Billy a sure sign of relief. This may have been Vonnegut’s way of sharing how a common man thought of Dresden, and the unlikely possibility of the city being bombed.

            “They had both found life meaningless, partly because of what they had seen in the war… So they were trying to reinvent themselves and their universe” (101). Tralfamadore was precisely that invented universe. Billy found a sense of renewal and insight at Tralfamadore. “It was a flying saucer from Tralfamadore, navigating in both space and time, therefore seeming to Billy Pilgrim to have come from nowhere all at once” (75). At the distant planet, he was separated from the hurtful truths about casualties, and war, and senselessness, and life vs. death. Billy’s mind “…was fizzing and flashing thrillingly. It was preparing letters and lectures about flying saucer, and the negligibility of death, and the true nature of time.” (190).

Onomatopoeia is used to connect the simplistic and unconditional noise that a bird makes into an expression. “Poo-tee-weet” is the sound that the birds always make, and continue to make after the war. The noise symbolizes the lack of understanding and the inability to comprehend such as massacre. It also symbolizes that life continues after such devastation. The birds will lead, and the humans will follow in the rebuilding process and the carrying on of life. Vonnegut ends the book in the same way he ends the title page, with expressions (Peace and “Poo-tee-weet”) that represent both harmony and pacifism.

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[1] Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five (New York, Random House Inc., 1969) 101

[2] Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five (New York, Random House Inc., 1969) 19