War And Its Consequences The True Reality - 1545 Words

War and its Consequences: The True Reality American veteran and novelist, Kurt Vonnegut uses his wartime experiences as a basis for his thought-provoking, antiwar novel, Slaughterhouse-Five. The novel follows Billy Pilgrim, an American chaplain’s assistant who serves near the end of World War II, through the horrific fire bombings of Dresden and his life after the war. In his novel, Vonnegut presents twentieth century war as traumatic and destructive, however; it is something that cannot be avoided so humans need to develop a means to cope with its effects. Vonnegut uses several techniques to reinforce his main argument, which states that twentieth century war is traumatic and destructive however it cannot be prevented. Throughout the†¦show more content†¦Contrary to Mary’s concerns, Vonnegut makes it explicitly clear that war is neither â€Å"glamorous† nor â€Å"wonderful† from the moment the protagonist, Billy Pilgrim is deployed. Upon arrival in Germany, Pilgrim is â€Å"never even is sued a steel helmet and combat boots† and after being trapped behind enemy lines he is left â€Å"empty-handed, bleakly ready for death†. These passages illustrate how the war devastates the American army to the extent that the soldiers are not properly equipped. As the novel continues, German soldiers capture Billy Pilgrim and another soldier Billy has been wandering with, Roland Weary. Now the reader is then exposed to the desolate reality of who is truly fighting. The soldiers are the exact opposite of what Mary described: â€Å"two of the Germans were boys in their early teens. Two were ramshackle old men, droolers as toothless as carp†. Vonnegut demonstrates that the soldiers remaining are weak and either far too young or too old to be fighting. In this section of his novel, Vonnegut illustrates that a considerable number of young men from an entire generation are no longer able to fight as a result of injury, death or capture. By demonstrating to the rea der the truth of who is actually fighting, Vonnegut is illustrating the true destruction that war causes. Following their own capture, Roland Weary and Billy Pilgrim become prisoners of war and are subjected to the ill treatment and poor