Slaughterhouse Five
World War II has been explored in many books and films which offer a broad number of views on the war. One Such book is Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut. Kurt Vonnegut fought for the United States in World War II. He was a German Prisoner of War, and witnessed the fire bombing of Dresden, Germany. However, the book centers on a character named Billy. Billy is not built to be a soldier; he is weak and not a fighter. Billy is also captured as a prisoner of war, and is sent to Dresden. During this period of time, Billy has gone crazy. He travels through time, to when he is abducted by aliens. They teach him many things about life. Billy also survives the bombing of Dresden, and is senile the remainder of his life. World War II was a very horrible war. There was much loss on both sides of the fighting. One event, in which 135,000, possibly more, people were killed, was the fire bombing of Dresden, Germany, by the USAF and the RAF. This death total is much more than that of Pearl Harbor and that of the immediate effect of the Atomic Bomb. This bombing began on February 13th, 1945. The city of Dresden had no significance, and was one of the only cities without military troops. The city was equipped with no anti a
The second and more obvious conflict in this book is Man v. Society. This conflict is between Billy and the Germans in the war. Billy is at first behind enemy lines, trying to stay away from the Germans and get back to the United State's side. The Germans capture Billy, and he becomes a prisoner of war. Billy is at first sent to a small camp in a desolate part of Germany. There are other Americans, Englishmen, and Russians, all of whom were prisoners of the German's. They get little food and are forced to go to the bathroom in a dirty latrine. Then, they send him to a camp in the city of Dresden. He is put to work there, with many other American Prisoners of war. They get little food and live in horse stables. After the bombing of Dresden, they are put to work looking for corpses. At the end of the war, Billy is handed back over to the Untied States. ircraft artillery, which made this the 'best' target. The USAF and the RAF dropped incendiary bombs, which are bombs that start large fires. The bombs are filled with highly combustible chemicals such as magnesium. This led to the eventual complete burning of the city, creating a desolate piece of land, which had few survivors. One important conflict in this book is Man v. Himself. This conflict is between Billy and his going insane in his head. Billy believes that he can time travel. He travels to the future when he is abducted by Tralfamadorians, aliens from Tralfamadore. He is taken to Tralfamadore to be put in a zoo. He learns that there is no such thing as time: everything has happened and nothing new will happen, and you can travel through these times. Billy is constantly traveling throughout his life, to when he's a child, and to the time when he is an old man. Billy became this way because of the horrors he witnessed in the war.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Disorder PTSD, American Prisoners, USAF RAF, War II, Pearl Harbor, Luftwaffe RAF, Tralfamadore Tralfamadore, Billy Billy, Atomic Bomb, Hitler Nazis, bombing dresden, air force, war ii, world war ii, world war, war billy, prisoner war, fire bombing dresden, air forces, pearl harbor, fire bombing, city dresden, bombing dresden germany,
Approximate Word count = 1231
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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