SLAUGHTERHOUSE- FIVE OR THE CHILDREN’S CRUSADE - KURT VONNEGUT, JR. • The book has an antiwar theme. The alternate name of the book is “The children's crusade” • Talks about Dresden Bombing (Second World War) • Billy Pilgrim, the protagonist of the book, a prisoner of the war gets flash backs of him in different time periods in his life. This experience of the protagonist has been carefully described by the author as being “unstuck” (i.e escaping the chronological order of the passage of time and jumping back and forth in the time period) • The non linear narrative that the author used gives authentic feel of what is going on in his head. It creates clear picture of the mental breakdown and the trauma that affects an individual serving in war (an idea that the author got through self experience) • The first and last chapter are written in first person so as to bring back the reader from the reality of the story. • Vonnegut was born in Indianapolis in 1922. He spent his
