Slaughterhouse-Five has one of the most unique narrative style I’ve seen so far. The author used a rather unconventional way to tell the story of one of the most horrible massacre of World War II. He mixed up a very witty dark humor with the science fiction of time travel with the story of bombing of Dresden by Americans at the end of World War II. The books has one of the most powerful three word phrase I’ve ever read.
“So it goes..”
Every time someone dies he throws this phrase. What I felt the author here wants to tell is the inevitability of death and war. We can’t change what has happened and it’s not going to affect the universe. What’s going to happen will happen and what has happened is in past.
“All moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always will exist.”
That’s where the author used time travel and alien life which can see beyond time using it as fourth dimension comes in picture. The aliens emphasized on:
“That’s one thing Earthlings might learn to do, if they tried hard enough: Ignore the awful times and concentrate on the good ones.”
Using a character like Billy Pilgrim who was weak and spineless was brilliant. It fits to the story and point he was trying to make. Billy is not entertained by the idea of war, he is not entertained by the luxuries of life. He’s listless and even with the ability to see the past and future was just a mere spectator in the play which was his life. He can’t change anything, only thing he can do is watch events being unfold in front of him.
And that’s what he does…
And then one day he too dies.
And so it goes..
wordsofbookradiant 