Archetypes

For this book I came up with two character archetypes. The first one was the aliens on the planet Tralfamadore. These characters were full of wisdom and they were the ones that taught Billy what life was really about. The other character was Billy. He was an innocent embarking on a journey because he was kidnapped by aliens and put on display on a different planet, and he also served in WWII where he had several life changing situations. I also came up with two setting archetypes. The planet Tralfamadore was the place where everyone was more advanced and Billy gained a lot of wisdom just from visiting the planet. The other one was Dresden. This was the typical war city. Billy spent most of his time here and this was where most of the action i the book took place.

Allusions

In Slaughterhouse-Five there were many allusions. At one part in the book Billy is reminded of the songs of a christmas carol. This carol is about the birth of Jesus and when i read this it made me think about the the story of Jesus's birth. Another allusion i had was with KIlgore Trout. He was a writer and he was able to convince kids to sell papers for him and then he would get all the money. This reminded me of the book i read when i was little The Great Brain. In The Great Brain the main character would convince all of his frinds to do his chores for him and then he would still get all the money for it. Vonnegut also talked a lot about the war and especially the bombing of Dresden. This makes the reader think about what it was like being in WWII. Vonnegut talks about how the Dresden bombing killed almost twice as many people as the atomic bombs did and this made me think about what it would of been like to live in the city and have this happen to you. Also by him bringing up the atomic bombs it makes an allusion to Pearl Harbor and the reason we entered WWII in the first place. Throughout the book there are several allusions that make the reader think of something else.

Why A Classic?

There are many reasons why Slaughterhouse-Five is considered a classic. First there is the style of the book. Vonnegut wrote the book where the main character faced the same obstacles that Vonnegut had faced. Vonnegut also added fiction to the book and this made it so the reader had no idea what was going to happen next. The fact that Billy was unstuck in time added a lot to the book. This made it so one paragraph could be about the war and the next paragraph he could be at his wedding. This jumping back and forth to different events lets the reader know more about the characters and what they have gone through. This book also teaches a very important philosophy about life. Billy learns that he will always be in the moments that were in his life. This can be applied in the world today as even when someone dies they will still always be in your memories. Another reson this book is a classic is the reason Vonnegut wrote the book. After Vonnegut got back from the war he was pretty messed up. He was planning on writing a book, but it took him twenty-three before he was finally able to finish it. The book helped Vonnegut escape from all the trauma he had and helped Vonnegut with all his inner turmoil. The strange writing style and the theme of Slaughterhouse-Five are the reasons that it is a classic.

Character Growth

Billy Pilgrim changed a lot throughout his life. When he was younger he was very confused and didn't know what he was supposed to do with his life. When he was in the war he was physically there, but he was always wanting to find an escape from it. Billy also married Valencia and it wasn't that he didn't like Valencia , he just was never really happy when he was with her. Then one night Billy's life changed forever. This was the night that he was kidnapped by aliens and put on display in a zoo in Tralfamadore. It was here that Billy learned the most about life. Billy learned that people will have always lived and that they will always be in the moments that happened to them throughout their life. Billy also gets unstuck in time and this makes it so he is able to jump to any part of his life. By the end of the book Billy has learned to accept what happens to him. He knows how he is going to die, and all the other events that will take place in his life. This enables Billy to focus on all the good things that he has in his life. Billy teaches the reader that people should accept their lives the way they are and that people will always be memories.

Story Summary

The story is about the life of Billy Pilgram, he is an optometrist that served in World War II. He was in Dresden the night that it got bombed, and this event caused him to have a lot of trauma. The trauma from the war made it so he became unstuck in time. This meant that at anytime he could jump to another point in his life. Many times he would jump back to the war and talk about what it was like being a prisoner of war and being in Dresden. One time he got captured by aliens fromTralfamadore. The aliens taught him that there is no such thing as death. A person will have always been in the past, the present, and the future. From these aliens Billy learned not to be afraid of death. He also had a wife Valencia. She really loved Billy and she died because she was trying to see him in the hospital. On her way to the hospital she got in a wreck. The wreck messed up her car, but she still drove her car to the hospital. Little did she know that her car was leaking gases into her car and when she got to the hospital that gases had killed her. In the story Billy teaches us that we need to look at the good things in life and not focus on all the bad things. Billy also said," God grant me the serenity to accept the things i cannot change, courage to change the things i can, and wisdom always to tell the difference."

Critical Article

http://www.answers.com/topic/slaughterhouse-five-novel-7

Slaughterhouse-Five is Vonnegut's most admired and discussed novel. In the story Vonnegut talks about the most important part of his life. The story was narrated by Vonnegut and in the first chapter Vonnegut only talks about how hard it was to right a book about the massacre he witnessed. Vonnegut makes the structure of the novel very "jumbled and jangled" much like the condition of the main character Billy. Billy's condition in the book is a symbol of confusion and the desire to be able to escape from war. Vonnegut wrote the book as a response to war and many critics have commented on the book's structure, style, and use of satire.

Critical Article

http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/4953/kv_slaughter.html

This novel was a progressive work after Vonnegut got back from the war. It took Vonnegut twenty-three years to write the novel because of all the pain and suffering he had seen in the Dresden bombing. Vonnegut's main character is a very complicated character. He also had several problems from his war experiences and because Billy can't comprehend death he creates the Tralfamadorians. Billy is also an optometrist and corrects people's vision for a living. This is ironic because Billy also wants to change the way people look at their time and their life on earth. This novel suggests that if men don't change the condition of life on earth thet no one will. There is three main parts of the novel. 1) The book isn't so much about Dresden and more about the psychological impact of time, death, and uncertainty. 2) The main character isn't Billy, but Vonnegut and 3) It's an experimental novel with a lot of complexity. Vonnegut explains what's happening by using very little detail. This makes the reader form a mental picture and makes the reader think about what is going to happen next.