Lit Analysis #3 (The Very Last One! Oh My Goodness!)

1.The story Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut is about a man named Billy Pilgrim. He he shipped off to Belgium in WWII and is taken prisoner by Germany. Around the time he's captured, he experiences his first time shift, where we suddenly sees different periods of his life, which also become reacurring. Once his time with the war has ended, he travels back home to New York and starts to have a regular, American dream life. He marries and has two children. Later in 1967, he experiences an alien abduction where he is forced to mate with a female actress. After he returns to earth, he doesn't mention any of his experiences until he appears on a radio program. After the radio program, Billy records a preiction of his death, which will occur in 1976 after Chicago is bombed by the Chinese.

2. A theme that can be viewed from the novel is destructiveness of war. Since the story shows various outbreaks and flashbacks that Billy has from the war, and how it affects him

3. The author's tone is in a serious manner since some of the story is written from Billy's perspective, so it has a better perspective on what occured in his life

"Then we were sent home, and I married a pretty girl who was coverned in baby fat too.
And we had babies"

"She always has to know the time. Sometimes I don't know, and I say, 'Search me.'"

"I have told my sons that they are not under any circumstances to take part in
massacres, and that the news of massacres of enemies is not to fill them with satisfaction
or glee."

4. Motif- A reacurring statement throughout the whole novel is the phrase "so it goes". It is often said after a casualty occurs, and is said throughout the whole book.

"His mother was incinerated in the Dresden fire-storm. So it goes."

Point Of View/Narrator- The story is written in two different points of view. The first chapter is first person and is completely narrated by Billy, then chapter 2, to the end of the book is omnicent point of view and is said by a narrator

1. The story doesn't focus on characterization much on Billy, and mainly focuses more on his actions rather than the traits of the character himself

2. The only change in syntax/diction is the change from chapter 1, the beginning of the novel, narrated by Billy, to chapter 2 and the rest of the story, which is narrated by author

3. Billy would probably be dynamic. Since he is first shipped off to war as a normal person, and as his experience in war continues, he becomes more crazier, which then continues when he travels home

4. I didn't feel like I knew the character personally, but I feel like I know the character in the story more because of the use of first-person in the first chapter