Download Throughout history, the concept of war has been displayed

Throughout history, the concept of war has been displayed numerously. It is defined as "a
state of armed hostile conflict between states or nations" (Merriam-Webster, 2009). War has
evolved from primitive raids to modern warfare; from stones and sticks to nuclear weapons.
Along with the technologic advances came an increase in destruction and human causality,
reminiscent of the last great war. One particular incident of World War II was the allied bombing
of Dresden in February 1945. It was one of the most atrocious air raids executed , as the German
city had little military significance. With 1,300 bombers dropping over 3,900 tons of explosives
and incendiary bombs, much of the city was destroyed and civilian causalities were estimated at
40,000 (Wikipedia, 2009). Subsequently, a wave of negative criticism emerged, and one
particular expression came from literary texts. A case in point is Kurt Vonnegut's
Slaughterhouse-Five. Published in 1969, Slaughterhouse-Five was critically acclaimed for its
strong anti-war message, and specifically, for pointing out the hollow purpose of war. In addition
to the dark depiction of the human carnage and destruction in his novel, Vonnegut brought to
attention the psychological trauma caused by war. His "purposefully fragmented [plot]
structure" parallels the disjointed traumatized psyche of soldier Billy Pilgrim, and ultimately,
"points to the backward nature of war itself" (Leatherwood 21). This essay will demonstrate that
in Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut condemns the senselessness of war through illustrating its
psychological impact on its soldiers, particularly himself and Billy Pilgrim. Specifically, I will
explore his implementations of war-psychosis (contemporarily called post-traumatic stress
disorder) and Billy's development of infantilization.
Due to the war, Billy Pilgrim cannot live an ordinary life. As a drafted young soldier, his
mind was sensitive and inexperienced, and therefore extremely susceptible to exposures of death,
and physical and mental fatigue. In his severely traumatized mind, even the smallest stimulus can
act as a trigger that fires his brain into a psychotic episode (and supposedly transport him to
another time). With each delusion, Billy leaves behind a gap in his memory. In his flashback to
his twelve year old self, the sudden total darkness of a cavern overwhelmed his fragile psyche,
causing him to be sent back to the delousing station of the POW camp. The break of his temporal
timeline is expressed through Billy's uncertainty of his environment, and particularly, shown in
the line, "The shower was over. An unseen hand had turned the water off" (90). This quick short
sentence arrangement demonstrates that Billy was not immediately conscious of his surrounding,
implying a gap in his memory. Also, the use of the word "unseen" further establishes that Billy's
psychological war-trauma has distanced him from reality, causing him to blank out temporarily.
After the war, strong evidence of post-traumatic stress disorder can be seen by Billy's symptom
of irregular sleep patterns. "Sleep disturbances" are often associated with other symptoms of
post-traumatic stress disorder such as, "gaps in memory; distressing memories, dreams or
flashbacks; feelings of being cut-off or detached from loved ones; " (Veterans Affairs Canada,
2009). Even in the war, Billy has already experienced several of these symptoms, argued with
evidence shown earlier in the paragraph. Clearly, he is already building a foundation for posttraumatic stress disorder which will have a detrimental impact on his post-war years. For
example, while working as an optometrist, Billy erratically falls asleep in front of a patient.
Additionally, he experiences another case of memory loss when he wakes up and "trie[s] to
remember how old he was, [but can't]" (56). Also, he seems to forget what year it is. In the next
few lines, when his patient remarks, "you're so quiet" and asks, "you see something terrible?",
the patient is confused by Billy's distant facial expression and thinks Billy saw something wrong
with his eye. However, Billy's temporary disconnection with reality is actually a flashback
segment caused by war-trauma. Ironically, Billy fights to keep awake at work, but when he
actually tries to sleep in his bed, he can't. Vonnegut writes, "sleep would not come. Tears came
instead. They seeped. Billy turned on the Magic Fingers, and he was jiggled as he wept." Here,
in a double case, he cries because of emotional distraught, and he relies on the Magic Fingers to
help him sleep. Both incidences are classic symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Another
case of uncontrollable emotion is exposed on his eighteenth wedding anniversary. When a
barbershop quartet sings a joyful song at his party, Vonnegut writes Billy's reaction:
Unexpectedly, Billy Pilgrim found himself upset by the song and the occasion. He had
never had an old gang, old sweethearts and pals, but he missed one anyway, as the quartet
made slow, agonized experiments with chords-chords intentionally sour, sourer still,
unbearably sour, and then a chord that was suffocatingly sweet, and then some more sour
ones again. Billy had powerful psychosomatic responses to the changing chords. His
mouth filled with the taste of lemonade, and his face became grotesque, as though he
really were being stretched on the torture engine called the rack. (172-173)
Here, Billy experiences a severe traumatic event. He is in mental anguish, having intense
feelings of anxiety and fear. Vonnegut starts off with the word "unexpectedly" because Billy
himself is not aware of the connection with his war-years. The line, "he had never had an old
gang, old sweethearts and pals, but he missed one anyway", clearly illustrates his subconscious
feelings of grief and mourning for his fellow soldiers who died in the war. These emotions
intensify as the chords get more "sour" (the sourness represents the volume level). The phrase,
"then a chord that was suffocatingly sweet", denotes a quieter tune, but for Billy, the auditory
decrease allows more room in his mind for his feelings of anguish to take over and "suffocate"
him. As Billy goes on an emotional roller coaster through hell, "his mouth [becomes] filled with
the taste of lemonade", because now, his traumatic reaction is so powerful that his mental
suffering starts to affect his physical senses. Everyone around him can now see his distraught, as
Billy is in physical pain because the sensation for him is so real. It is as if he was strapped to a
"rack"- an instrument of torture that stretches or disjoints or mutilates victims. Finally, the song
ends, and Billy recovers back to normal. This incident is a textbook case of severe emotional
distraught caused by the psychological damages of the war. The personal connection of this
incident (Billy soon realizes also) traces back to the aftermath of the Dresden bombings.
Vonnegut writes, "the guards drew together instinctively, rolled their eyes. They experimented
with one expression and then another, said nothing, though their mouths were often open. They
had looked like a silent film of a barbershop quartet". Now, it becomes clear that it was the
physical image of the four men that trigged Billy's temporary psychosis. In addition, the open
mouths of the guards looked just like the facial expression of the singers as they changed their
chords from sour to sweet. Looking back, it is clear Billy suffers from post-traumatic stress
disorder, and Vonnegut implements this to criticize war and its ghastly effects on the human
mind.
Another psychological impact of war can be seen through the infantilization of Billy
Pilgrim. Vonnegut, as Leatherwood points out, incorporates an "infantile nature [to] the novel's
protagonist" (21). The cause of Billy's infantilizim isn't the actual horrific killing of war,
contrasting with his development of post-traumatic stress disorder. More so, Billy's
diminishment in maturity is caused by his role as a prisoner of war. The moment he is captured,
we realize his rights and free will as an adult are being taken away. He now has to follow the
explicit orders of the guards. Leatherwood adds, "most directly, this childlike treatment brought
upon the soldiers a childlike obedience" (24). In a comical way, Billy's relationship with his
guards mirrors a child's relationship with his parents. Furthermore, as Billy is put into camp with
the British prisoners of war, we can see the infantilization effect in the long run. Subjected to
four years of guards, confinement and routine, the psyches of the British POWs are very
infantile. Direct evidence is shown by their juvenile play of a childhood fairy-tale, Cinderella. In
addition, their use of "airman’s boots painted silver" (144) as Cinderella's slippers, demonstrates
their child-like creativity. It is interesting to note that Vonnegut immediately places Billy's
maturity level to match those of the British soldiers'. It is perhaps to emphasize his young
impressionable mind. Vonnegut writes:
Billy curled up in his azure nest, found himself staring at Cinderella's silver boots under a
throne. And then he remembered that his shoes were ruined, that he needed boots. He
hated to get out of his nest, but he forced himself to do it. He crawled to the boots on all
fours, sat, tried them on. (145)
This passage strongly verifies Billy's abrupt infantilization, perhaps caused by the witnessing of
a childhood memory, Cinderella. As he is "curled up" inside his maternal "nest", Billy becomes
an infant, much like a baby bird waiting for his mother to return (unrelated, "azure" refers to the
curtains he pulled down to make the nest). The phrase, "found himself staring at Cinderella's
silver boots", exemplifies a child's fixation with a trivial object. Next, in the line, "then he
remembered that his shoes were ruined, that he needed boots", Vonnegut's italicization of the
word "needed" further points out Billy's child-like thought process and his necessary desire for a
non-necessary item. Clearly, the strongest evidence is in the line, "he crawled to the boots on all
fours", which conclusively embodies Billy as an infant. Another example of Billy's
infantilization can be demonstrated by his dream as a giraffe. Through his description, "they had
horns like doorknobs. The knobs were covered with velvet" (99), the random silliness can clearly
be representative of his juvenile imagination. Also, the simple sentence structure expresses his
undeveloped grammer. Subsequently, in regards to his dream, Billy's self-directed simple
question, "why?" (99), furthermore reveals his infantile curiosity. Interestingly, the infantilizing
effects of war stays permanently with Billy, as one can find equally convincing evidence from
his life after the war. Perhaps even more so, as his old age sharply contrasts his immature
personality. In his relationship with his daughter, Barbara, Billy does not assume the role of a
parent, in fact it is the opposite. Barbara has to take care of Billy, constantly checking up on him
due to his child-like inadequacy, which is exhibited by the lines, "he wasn't warmly dressed
either. He was barefoot, and still in his pajamas and a bathrobe, though it was late afternoon. His
feet were blue and ivory" (28). Another post-war evidence is found by examining Billy's silly
imagination, particularly his ridiculous alien-abduction fantasy involving the Trafalmadorians,
and also, his wet dreams about porn star, Montana Wildhack. As Vonnegut demonstrates, the
infantilization effects of war is detrimental to having a normal life.
Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five commands an anti-war message through not only by
showcasing death and destruction, but also by expressing its opinion on the damaging
psychological effects of war. At its publication date of 1969, inadequate studies were done on
war-induced psychological trauma. This book, along with others, sparked an increase in social
awareness of this issue, and caused doctors and psychologists to study more on the mental effects
of war. Subsequently, in 1974, post-traumatic stress disorder became a recognized diagnosis and
finally, war veterans worldwide began to receive appropriate treatment. Through this social
success, Vonnegut not only wrote a "small" book, but also improved the world in a "small" way.
No author could have achieved a greater goal.