SLAUGHTERHOUSE 5 

 
Reading Journal  

Nina Garcia Lecuona 

Language and literature,  
Mr Brown 
 

 
PERSPECTIVE 

What is striking about the novel is its use of perspective. The author appears to be the 

one narrating the novel, but while he approaches it in the third person past chapter 1, he 

mentions himself as one of the characters in the novel itself later on. He is therefore in 

the story, but not at the same time. What becomes prevalent once research is done into 

Vonnegut's own life, is that Billie’s war experiences draw parallels to Vonneguts, thus 

alluding to a much deeper involvement of the author and his voice in the novel. 

Vonnegut was at Dresden and taken as a prisoner of war, what is more is that he 

dedicated the book to a Mary O'hare, who the reader meets in chapter one. Therefore, 

while the man who is visiting the O’hare’s he names Yon Yonson, the parallels to 

Vonnegut become more clear, the deeper one goes. What Vonnegut becomes is an 

omnipresent narrator, being in the novel and not, at the same time. His appearance in 

the novel three times, serves as a reminder to the reader that he was once part of the 

action, even if he may not be anymore, making himself timeless, through the writing, 

fitting in with the concept of time in the novel.  

There is also another type of perspective which is Billie’s perspective on life. As he 

has the ability to become unstuck in time, he know what his life is going to end up like, 

he knows how he will die, that he will get abducted by Tralfamadorians, and yet as he 

says in his tomb stone, he develops the idea that “everything was beautiful and nothing 

hurt”. He is at peace with all the events which occurred, because he can see how each 

event shaped his own development as a person, or in the reader's perspective as a 

character. For example, before, during and after the war he changes, as his character 

develops and the direct impacts on the war on Billie are subtly addressed.  

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ANTI-WAR NOVEL 

Slaughterhouse Five, although a war novel through it’s mention of the war, is not upon 

first glance an anti-war novel. The genre of science fiction makes the underlying message 

about the horrors of war less emphasized, however it is through the subtlety with which 

Vonnegut reflects on the war and the impacts which it had on him that make this novel 

and it’s message stand out further. In the novel there is an exchange between Billie and 

the actor Harrison Star which highlights Vonnegut’s own sentiment on war.  

“You know what I say to people when I hear they’re writing anti-war books?” 

“No. What do you say, Harrison Star?” 

“An anti-war book? Why not write an anti-glacier book instead?” 

What he meant, of course, was that there would always be wars, that they were as easy to 

stop as glaciers. I believe that too. 

And even if wars didn’t keep coming like glaciers, there would still be plain old death.” 

What stands out about this excerpt is that by highlighting the unstoppable nature of war, 

and comparing it to a glacier, Vonnegut is accepting that his book may as well be an 

anti-war book in chapter one. Through admitting this he also faces the fact that it would 

do nothing to write a book about the war, in chapter one he even calls the book “a 

failure, written by a pillar of salt”, because of the permanence and monolithic nature of 

war. 

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TRAFALMODORIANS  

The use of the Trafalmodorians in Vonnegut’s novel goes far beyond the science fiction 

genre where this book has been classed. Vonnegut uses the “aliens” as symbols. From 

war to the concept of time and predeterminism, the Trafalmodorians represent 

humanity and its issues in a humorous way, even if that humour may be dark and ironic.  

The Tralfamadorians and their world juxtapose the darkness which Vonnegut 

paints of Earth, emphasizing the destructive nature of humanity through the wars 

waged. On the Utopian planet of the Tralfamadorians, there is no war, and Billie is at 

peace. Even in the limited time he appears on the planet in the book, the narrator tells us 

he is happy. What is marked in the novel, is that many of the shifts in time specifically 

from during the war and then another period of time, is when Vonnegut compares the 

two places. He will shift from the unknown planet to WW2. This links into the literary 

device known as foil, where Vonnegut uses the peace of the Tralfamadorians to 

juxtapose the harrowing nature which is human nature, and war. Even through the 

concept of free will and predeterminism, Vonnegut’s use of foil helps to contrast this 

alien race to the human race, highlighting the flaws in humanity and the two 

dimensional illusion of free will and peace which exists on Earth.  

   

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FREE WILL OR PREDESTINATION  

While chapter one is clearly the beginning of the book, it is chapter 2 where the story of 

Billy Pilgrim, the man who becomes unstuck in time unfolds. The first sentence in this 

chapter emphasises the importance of time in the novel, as the author tells the reader to 

“listen: Billy Pilgrim has become unstuck in time.” Through this concept of time, 

Vonnegut explores the concept of free will through paradoxically, predestination. In the 

novel it is the lack of free will which Billy experiences through becoming unstuck in 

time, that symbolises the predetermined nature of human life. Through jumping through 

his life in a non-chronological order, Billy is aware of events which will occur before he 

relieves them as he has been in that moment in time before, yet even in the most 

extreme cases like the plane crash or his death, Billy does not do anything differently, as 

he cannot. Within the novel and the Tralfamadorians’ own perception of time, events 

have already occurred therefore there is no possible way of changing the occurrences. 

By using the Tralfamadorians’ own concept of time, Vonnegut illustrates how within 

human life, events are predetermined, if something is meant to happen it will happen, 

and one cannot change it. This carries resemblance to the argument of religion, where 

God does not submit to the human notion of time, but eternity, which has no beginning 

or end, but a present. Therefore, God draws many parallels to the Tralfamadorians, who 

are presented as all knowing because they know the future, yet in reality for them, it is a 

constant present. The idea of free will stems from time, and how what Vonnegut seems 

to argue, is that human life is predetermined, in page 133, the Trafalmordorians 

highlight this, explaining how “only on earth is there talk of free will.” The illusion of 

free will, Vonnegut argues is just that, an illusion.  

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