Comparing Slaughterhouse Five And The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe
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Early on in Slaughterhouse Five, Billy Pilgrim tells his wife, Valencia, “‘It would sound like a dream’” (121) to tell her about his experiences in the war. Shortly thereafter, he becomes unstuck in time again, traveling back to his horrific life as a soldier in World War II. Making the connection between a novel with a theme of insanity to an Edgar Allan Poe poem seemed only natural. Poe, like Kurt Vonnegut, is a master of developing the topic in an ironic, dark manner, as seen in his short-story “The Tell-Tale Heart”. Once the connection between the authors was made, all that was left was to choose the poem. “A Dream within a Dream” fit perfectly. The main bridge between these two pieces of literature is the respective main characters’ struggle with reality. In “A Dream within a Dream,” the speaker claims to understand that “All that we see or seem / Is but a dream within a dream” (11), conceding that his entire life has been out of touch with reality (5). In Slaughterhouse Five, Billy Pilgrim struggles to stay in any frame of mind. He is constanting skipping from one moment in his life…show more content… The Tralfamadorian theory that Billy uses as a coping method includes saying “So it goes” in response to every death. Because Slaughterhouse Five is a war novel, the phrase is said quite often, emphasizing Billy’s painful experience. The poet in “A Dream within a Dream” also repeats his philosophy several times over, ending both stanzas with “All that we see or seem / Is but a dream within a dream” (11, 24). The poet also uses the phrase “All” (10, 23) twice to serve as emphasis and an equalizer, saying that all aspects of his life are subject to his loss of reality. Similarly, Billy Pilgrim uses phrases like “Blue and ivory” (28) to draw attention to very different subject matter and place them on the same