Slaughterhouse Essay Example for Free

Slaughterhouse EssayIn the novel Slaughterhouse 5 written by Kurt Vonnegut, it can be perceived that the overall secret plan structure does not follow the expected chronological order of most other novels. Normally, the manners of billy Pilgrim would be represented as a analog grade. This means that it would show the order of pillow slips as they happened in time. The lack of chronological order in the novel and the abrupt and random changes in time ar used by the author to represent how the life of a soldier is affected after the war. Throughout the novel, Vonnegut implements this structure also to define Billys personality and characteristics. Vonnegut uses the ideals and beliefs of the Tralfamadorians to influence the structure of the novel. The Tralfamadorians believe that there is no beginning, no middle, no end, no suspense, no moral, no causes, no effects. What we love in our books atomic number 18 the depths of many marvelous moments seen all at one time. The autho r represents this idea in the structure by alternating between stories and times, telling the story as Billy lives it, to show what he thinks of life and death after war.Vonnegut successfully writes the novel in this style to allow the readers to consider these ideals in their proclaim lives. This is portrayed in the novel when Billy says repeatedly so it goes when someone dies meaning that he doesnt look at death like an end, it equitable look at it like another part of life. Vonnegut succeeds in showing the readers the elements of the novel all at once using random changes and skipping from one event to another abruptly.The author also gave this particular structure to the bandage of the novel because it represented the bombardment of Dresden as an event that kept going forever. The fact that the bombing of Dresden didnt have much historic attention, although it was a real massacre, encouraged Vonnegut to describe it as Billy Pilgrim sees it endless. As Billy went over his lif e more than once, the author wants the reader to know how hard and devastating was for Billy to live war more than once.The harshness and the uselessness of war are represented with this method. other structural technique implemented by Vonnegut is foreshadowing. Foreshadowing is when a warning or an indication of a future event is given before the true(a) event occurs. This is clearly seen throughout the entire novel but especially in the first chapter. It begins like this Listen Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time. It ends like this Poo-tee-weet? (p. 31). Here Vonnegut deliberately breaks the concept of time as well as the concept of tension.The most important events in this novel are foreshadowed by the author before, to relieve this negative tension that the whole theme of war creates. A clear example is seen in page 56 Billy sit down in the waiting room. He wasnt a widower yet. This technique allows the plot of the novel to be much more relaxed as well as giving the rea ders a sense of tranquility and fluidity. An effect of the novels plot structure in the overall meaning of the book is the fact that Billys life is replicated by the structure producing a metaphor of the damage warfare creates.An example of this is when Billy jumps in time to his death repeatedly. He knows precisely how, when and where he dies. He knows that he will be killed by Paul Lazzaro after he delivers a speech in a stadium fill with people, about everything he learnt on tralfamadore in 1976. This helps the audience to understand the damage war causes to the minds of soldiers. The fact that the storyline is incoherent to the reader shows exactly how Billy has lived his life every day since the war.Also the disjointed characteristic of the structure portrays how the events in Billys life are all disassociated. To conclude, the author uses a non-chronological plot structure for reasons such as, to represent a soldiers life after war and the ongoing massacre of Dresden. Vonnegu t achieves, with the use of extended metaphors and careful descriptions, to dribble the reader a sense of discontinuity in the novel and therefore an overall image of life that is beautiful and surprising and deep.