War plays a significant role in shaping human history. The fires of war can temper a man until he is unbreakable, or they can melt him with their heat. For Kurt Vonnegut, the flames of war do something extraordinary. They burn away his ability to accept the atrocities that humans direct toward one another. They galvanize his mind, removing any doubt as to the treacherous legacy that comes with the violence of war. Most importantly, they brand into his mind the images and events that would be the inspiration for a masterpiece. Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughter House Five is a modern parable, written to express the author's anti-war sentiments and expose the absurdity of violence.

Kurt Vonnegut begins his classic novel with a preface that belies the genius of the piece (Smith 83). This preface contains in its mere twenty two pages, all of the values and ideals from which Vonnegut writes his story. By telling the reader of the events that preceded the writing and publication of Slaughter-House Five, Vonnegut illustrates the very morals of his story before the reader even starts into the narrative (Smith 89). Even the title of the nov

el explains the values which Vonnegut is applying to the bombing. Vonnegut, a captured soldier held hostage in a slaughter-house, is, ironically, among the only survivors of the bombing of a peaceful city (Gianonne 82). When opening his novel, Vonnegut speaks to the reader as one would to an old friend, modestly and sincerely. He tells the reader about the troubles he faced trying to write what should have been such an easy book. The topic of Dresden is so big, yet no words come to him, not enough to fill a book anywa!

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Vonnegut mentions to a Professor at a cocktail party that he is writing a book about the bombing of Dresden. The Professor, a member of the "Committee on Social Thought," reminds Vonnegut of the German concentration camps; and of how Germans would make soap and candles out of the fat of dead Jews. The only thing Vonnegut could do was to say "I know, I know. I know" (Vonnegut 10). Vonnegut knows that the Germans and Japanese atrocities occurred. However, Vonnegut does not feel that the wrongs of the enemy justify the sins committed by the Allies (Gianonne 87).

Vonnegut promises Mary to title the story "The Children's Crusade." The Children's Crusade is an allusion to a tragedy that occurred in 1213 AD. Thirty thousand children volunteered to board ships bound for North African slave ports believing they are going to fight for Christianity in Palestine. Roughly one half of them died. When one looks back at the wars that have been fought throughout history, one realizes that children, are the ones that fight our wars, true some of them are older than most children, and most of them are much older looking. However, they are all children who die in battle fields (Holland 32).

Holland, Thomas. "Vonnegut's Major Works." Vonnegut in America. New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1977.

Smith, Dennis.

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Approximate Word count = 1286
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)