A young man discovers Vonnegut

By Justin K.

Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five is a compelling science fiction novel with anti war undertones. The novel is centered around the recollections of an elderly soldier. What begins as a cautionary war story depicting the graphic firebombing of Dresden quickly becomes a Sci-Fi tale of alien abduction and interdimensional travel.

The nameless narrator of the novel jumps from past to present focusing mainly on the life of one of his fellow soldiers Billy Pilgrim. Billy is at first, an unextraordinary and even dopey individual, throughout the story he is described as a weak and incompetent soldier. This incompetence leads to his capture at the hands of German soldiers, he is forced into a POW camp. The narrator goes into detail about his time at the camp as well as his time working in the neighboring town of Dresden before it's eventual destruction at the hands of allied forces.

The story takes a turn when it is let known that the main character Billy Pilgrim was the victim of an alien abduction. Although Kurt Vonnegut never makes it abundantly clear whether the abduction did really happen or if Billy Pilgrim had gone insane from his time during the war Vonnegut goes into great detail about the nature of the abduction and the theory of interdimensional travel. The aliens, known as Tralfamadorians  kidnap Billy and keep him in a zoo on their planet Ilium. We find out that the Tralfamadorian species does not see the universe the same way humans do, they have no concept of time and see everything all at once. When they look at Billy they don't perceive him as he perceives himself instead they see every moment of him from birth to death all at once. They teach him how to accept that which he does not understand and he is sent back to earth with a new lease on life.

Slaughterhouse-Five is a quirky and unique story that will have you questioning just how far humans will go for power as well as having you questioning your place in the universe as a whole. It's anti war message and it's scifi undertones will leave you entertained as well as informed. Vonnegut's use of real facts and situations as well as creative license made slaughterhouse-five thrilling from beginning to end.