Among the pages of Vonnegut's book Slaughterhouse Five the anti-war sentiment is clearly seen. From the basic portrayal of gruesome war to more complex events such as watching a war movie in reverse.
During the opening pages of chapter four Billy Pilgrim is watching a movie about American Bombers attacking France. Strangely he starts watching the film backwards when he becomes unstuck in time. He witnesses the bombers fly "backwards over a German city....in flames" and "shrunk the fires"(74). The movie continues on as the Americans and Germans use their "miraculous devices"(74) to heal each other, and further on people dismantle the war weapons and turn them into harmless minerals of the Earth.
This period in the story strikes me as a strange, nontraditional way of spreading a feeling of pacifism among its readers. If Vonnegut can come up with such an interesting way of spreading that idealism I am interested in seeing how his anti-war rhetoric continues throughout his book.
No comments:
Post a Comment