Kurt Vonnegut Analysis

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Many people have interesting backgrounds, but few of those people actually share it. Kurt Vonnegut is a person with a brutal, intriguing background.Vonnegut was one of the few, and he shared it in a unique way: a fictional book. Vonnegut and his sister Alice are fourth-generation Germans, but they were never taught about their ancestry due to the anti-German atmosphere after World War I. Vonnegut’s family took pride and continued a lot of German traditions, so the fact that neither of the kids were ignorant about their history was a disappointment. Vonnegut faced many more serious struggles as well: his family lost all of their wealth due to the Great Depression, his father fell into severe depression, and his mom died by overdosing herself…show more content…
These make a reader either really like the book or not enjoy the book so much. One of the most intriguing of this book is the way Vonnegut includes three main but possibly more different genres. Many find this interesting, because it is like going into a fantasy world where both everyday and unimaginal events take place. Vonnegut includes a touch of an autobiography when talking about all of the struggles of Billy at the start, because he faced those exact struggles. However, by using the aliens, he also mixes in science fiction. Then there is also the fictional time traveling that would also be science fiction. Finally, he includes war drama describing how it affects the people during and after--like with Billy’s PTSD, and random mental breakdowns. In all, the genre mix up is not something commonly seen in most books, modern or classics, and it brings a unique touch to the book to keep the reader interested. There are plenty more pros of Slaughterhouse Five, but there is also one flaw that must be addressed. Due to all of the random time traveling and uncertainness of where everything is going, it is difficult to follow the constantly changing plot. Readers may need to read one page three or four times to grasp where Billy is and what exactly is happening. This could bring up a large problem: many people that enjoy reading but are not avid about it may put this book down because it is so complex. Other than this one flaw, there is not many other flaws that stand
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