Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. is hailed as one of the great writers and Slaughterhouse Five is considered to be his most popular novel. Despite not having read his book until recently, he entered my writing on several occasions (here, here and here). Finally reading Slaughterhouse Five (SV), I’m glad I waited.

I think if I read the book any earlier, I might’ve had the same reaction I had with Dan Harmon’s TV show: Community. I had dismissed the show in my college years and it was only recently I rewatched it lost my mind at how brilliant the writing was. I lacked the intellect and life experience to understand it in my earlier years and I imagine that would’ve been the case for SV if I had read it earlier. 

That’s one of the reasons I tell people who start reading to not start with the classics. I think reading should start with a lot of cheap, shit books. If they are like me, taste for quality starts to form after reading lots of crap. But crap is what keeps you reading because it’s easy and your intellect is only developing. I would know. 

What is SV about? Like all great works of literature, it’s about humanity. It crosses between non-fiction and fiction as Vonnegut breaks the fourth wall at times to bring the reader into a scene from his memories. Some may disagree but I learned the best fiction is really non-fiction disguised so it’s easier for us to digest uncomfortable truths. Vonnegut may agree, though he may have implied it through what one of his characters said in SV. 

“…everything there was to know about life was in The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky.” 

The book is not about farm animals murdered by humans or each other—nothing Orwellian here. It has that tone from the title but I won’t spoil what the title means. Rest assured the cruelty in the book are between humans, no animals were harmed—to the best of my knowledge. 

SV is a science fiction novel with an element of alien civilization and time travel. The central theme revolves around World War II (WWII) and the bombing of Dresden. Vonnegut had been a scout in the U.S. Army during WWII. He became a prisoner of war (POW) to the Nazis and a survivor of the Dresden bombing. 

The Dresden bombing was one of the controversial actions by the Allied. Dresden was considered a cultural centre for the arts. My understanding is that a desire to preserve the city led to no military forces existing in Dresden. There were no factories producing military products either, most factories made cigarettes. 

It was considered to be a city free from Allied bombing because it was a place with no strategic significance, no Nazi fighting, the large population of women and children, and Allied POWs gathering there. It became the hub for many war refugees as a result.

Vonnegut described the guards at Dresden as children and old men who lost limbs on the front line. They didn’t even have proper guns to guard the POWs. But the Allied dropped ~4,000 tons of bombs on the city in February 1945. 

The death toll of civilians in the Dresden firestorm varies between 25k to 250k. The Germans may have inflated it and the Allieds may have downplayed it. Vonnegut believes it was about ~135k dead and I’m inclined to believe him over what any Allied general will say. He was the one who had to dig out the bodies from under the rubble. For comparison, the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had a combined death toll from 129k to 226k. 

After the war, Vonnegut returned to the U.S. and studied anthropology. He had wanted to learn more about people. To try and understand how they could do what they did in WWII. 

“I became a public relations man for General Electric in Schenectady, New York, and a volunteer fireman in the Village of Alplaus…”

Though he didn’t become a writer right out of college, it helped him form a view that influenced a theme in his books.

“Shortly before my father died, he said to me, ‘You know you never wrote a story with a villain in it.’ I told him that was one of the things I learned in college after the war.” 

It’s not that there is no evil in the world. It’s that we all have the propensity for darkness. Man is considered the scariest animal after all. Yet, it might be universal truth that the ones who’ve experienced—not perpetrated—true darkness and evil turn out to be the kindest, funniest and peace loving ones. 

“The nicest veterans in Schenectady, I thought, the kindest and funniest ones, the ones who hated war the most, were the ones who’d really fought.” 

SV was published more than 20 years after he returned from the war. From the first chapter of SV, Vonnegut shared the agonizing process it took to write a book about Dresden. He had written and thrown out more than 5,000 pages as he toiled away. 

He even toyed with the idea of calling the book the Children’s Crusade. For the unfamiliar, per Charles Mackay’s Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds: 

“...the Children’s Crusade started in 1213, when two monks got the idea of raising armies of children in Germany and France, and selling them in North Africa as slaves.” 

It might’ve been an apt title to describe what he experienced in WWII. There is nothing holy about war. It’s usually evil men doing it to profit off of the young and stupid or doing it for some dick measuring contest. It’s not a slight on the bravery of those who risk their lives but the cowardice of those who call upon it with lies. 

It was a realization that hit Vonnegut as he saw children being blown up. 

“We had forgotten that wars were fought by babies.” 

“‘My God, my God-‘ I said to myself. ‘It’s the Children’s Crusade.’"

Like people who saw the unnecessary horrors of war, he tried to teach similar values to his children. 

“I have also told them not to work for companies which make massacre machinery, and to express contempt for people who think we need machinery like that.” 

It’s through what he saw in WWII that Vonnegut tried to shine a light on his fellow humans. Through his character’s interactions with Nazis, comrades, everyday Americans, and aliens, he showed a portrayal of the American psyche. 

“Every other nation has folk traditions fo men who were poor but extremely wise and virtuous, and therefore more estimable than anyone with power and gold. No such tales are told by the American poor. They mock themselves and glorify their betters. The meanest eating or drinking establishment, owned by a man who is himself poor, is very likely to have a sign on its wall asking this cruel question: ‘If you’re so smart, why ain’t you rich!’”

“Many novelties have come from America. The most startling of these, a thing without precedent, is a mass undignified poor. They do not love one another because they do not love themselves.” 

“Billy was having an adventure very common among people without power in time of war: He was trying to prove to a wilfully deaf and blind enemy that he was interesting to hear and see.” 

I wonder if he was trying to teach his fellow human to be compassionate. A lesson that can be felt through the small details in his story. Details such as the soap used in the POW camp coming from the fat rendered from the Jews, Soviets and Gypsies murdered by the Nazis. 

Though the nature of the topic was serious, he told the story with such light hearted humour that I failed to notice it when I finished the book. My first reaction had been to conclude it was a decent book. 

Then, I found myself sitting for various times throughout the week thinking about how simple and profound the story was. It had felt ridiculous at times but I think that was part of the genius. I found myself wanting to learn more and more of the story despite thinking it an odd way to write a story. I wasn’t even sure I understood what this plot was going to be about. 

In the end, I have to say it was superb. It was creative and it felt very honest. At the least, I hope to remember the book at moments when I’m called to be compassionate to my fellow humans. I hope I do not fail. 

For Myself:

There were many parts of the book I thought were truly beautiful writing. Writing I aspired to pull out one day. Here a few I wanted to share:

“'Get out of the road, you dumb motherfucker.’ The last word was still a novelty in the speech of white people in 1944.” 

“…when he coughed he shit thin gruel. This was in accordance with the Third Law of Motion according to Sir Isaac Newton. This law tells us that for every action there is a reaction which is equal and opposite in direction.” 

“How nice to feel nothing, and still get full credit for being alive.”

The Serenity Prayer:

“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.” 

A writer must travel. If not, he will be like Kilgore Trout who writes books as if every human on Earth is an American.