SlaughterHouse 5
War is a time overflowing with hate, pain, and sorrow. All lives are affected whether one is a soldier, the relative of a loved one fighting over seas, or even the factory employee who assembles the weapons used. No matter his role, each individual feels the repercussions of war, and has the burden of remembering the horrid memories for a lifetime. Religious belief is a concept which many involved in wars feel strongly about. Either soldiers gain strong religious faith to reassure them and give them the courage to get through the war, or they develop a strong apathy towards religion and God. Often, the images of war can be extremely disturbing to one who survives, and leaves the survivor unable to retain belief in God or religion. Through Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut conveys negativity towards religion brought on by war through a passage mocking the bible, the mocking of sacred objects, and the negative effects of religious faith. Within the first chapter of Slaughterhouse Five, Vonnegut begins showing the novel's negative attitude towards religion, along with his personal opinion, in a passage involving the biblical story about the pillar of salt. In the bible story Vonnegut learns "Lo
The novel's negative view is quite evident through Vonnegut's constant mocking of religious references. The mocking of prayer is established through National Prayer Week. Prayer is supposedly private or public meditation that people do because of their own free will, but "the President of the United States had declared National Prayer Week, and everyone should pray" (202). The President forces people to pray when in reality they should not have to be forced; prayer should come from within. The National Prayer Week is an example of a hollow attempt at religion and religious faith. Vonnegut goes on to mock religion by writing that the reason behind the National Prayer Week was that "the Earthlings had had a bad week on the market before. They had lost a small fortune in olive oil. So they gave praying a whirl. It worked. Olive oil went up" (202). First of all, prayer does not work in a week; in order for prayer to work it takes time and devotion. Secondly, pure prayer is not ut! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ written by a pillar of salt" (22). Vonnegut looks back just like Lot's wife, so similarly he is a pillar of salt as well. In addition, the point of religion is not to dwell on the past, like his book, but to take the negatives of the past and to change them to live a life closer to perfection. This, he does not do. What shows the strongest apathy towards religion is how "she did look back, and I [Vonnegut] love her for that" (22). Vonnegut loves how an individual deliberately disobeys God since he personally does not approve of God or of blindly following his desires. tered as a means of ac
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1114
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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