Slaughter House Five (Blog 2) Madison Boynton
This week my role was the life and times thinker. I researched author Kurt Vonnegut before starting to read Slaughter House Five. His birth place was in Indianapolis, Indiana and was born on November 11th 1922. He passed away April 11th 2007.
Vonnegut's novels are known for their dark humor and playful use of science fiction, as well as for their serious moral vision and cutting social commentary. In the first couple of chapters you can definitely see some of these characteristics showing. As a group we made a joke about how the genre of this book, and how we have seen nothing like the writing in this book. We said the genre of this book was just Slaughter House Five and we would have to see where the book takes us ahaha.
I found out that although Kurt Vonnegut's work had already gained a popular audience by the late 1960's, the publication of Slaughter House Five, really cemented his reputation.
The big chuck of information on Kurt Vonnegut though, seems to be the most important relating to this novel. On December 14, 1944 Vonnegut was captured in the Battle of the Bulge. He was held as a POW in Dresden, a beautiful German city with no major industries or military presence. He was there when the allies bombed Dresden, an unexpected attack. Him and a few others were the only survivors. They waited out the bombing in a meat cellar deep under the slaughterhouse. This experience would not only shape his worldview, but provide direct inspiration for Slaughter House Five.
Personally, it was very hard to come up with a connection so far in this novel. Zach in our literature circle mentioned how this book reminded him of the movie "The Time Travelers Wife". I really thought that was a good connection and although the story lines are completely different, I felt like the connection fit.
Vonnegut's novels are known for their dark humor and playful use of science fiction, as well as for their serious moral vision and cutting social commentary. In the first couple of chapters you can definitely see some of these characteristics showing. As a group we made a joke about how the genre of this book, and how we have seen nothing like the writing in this book. We said the genre of this book was just Slaughter House Five and we would have to see where the book takes us ahaha.
I found out that although Kurt Vonnegut's work had already gained a popular audience by the late 1960's, the publication of Slaughter House Five, really cemented his reputation.
The big chuck of information on Kurt Vonnegut though, seems to be the most important relating to this novel. On December 14, 1944 Vonnegut was captured in the Battle of the Bulge. He was held as a POW in Dresden, a beautiful German city with no major industries or military presence. He was there when the allies bombed Dresden, an unexpected attack. Him and a few others were the only survivors. They waited out the bombing in a meat cellar deep under the slaughterhouse. This experience would not only shape his worldview, but provide direct inspiration for Slaughter House Five.
Personally, it was very hard to come up with a connection so far in this novel. Zach in our literature circle mentioned how this book reminded him of the movie "The Time Travelers Wife". I really thought that was a good connection and although the story lines are completely different, I felt like the connection fit.
Hi Madison, Nice observations you are making here. While new critics may not agree, the biographical information of an author is useful to understanding an interpretive approach to the book. Perhaps Vonnegut is trying to communicate a deeper political./social message in this case.
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