Who was the main character in Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut?
Characters Narrator intrusive and anonymous, recurring as a minor character, and as Kurt Vonnegut, himself, when the narrator says: “That was I. That was me. That was the author of this book.”[1] The narrator begins the story describing his connection to the fire-bombing of Dresden, and his reasons for writing Slaughterhouse-Five. Billy Pilgrim A fatalist optometrist ensconced in a dull, safe marriage, in Ilium, New York. He randomly travels in time and is abducted by the “four-dimensional” aliens from planet Tralfamadore. In WWII, he was a POW in Dresden, which has a lasting effect on his post-war life. His time travel occurs among disparate times of his life, re-living events past and future, and, so, becomes fatalistic (though not defeatist), because he has seen when, how, and why he will die. Roland Weary A weak man dreaming of grandeur and obsessed with gore and vengeance, he “saves” Billy several times (despite Billy’s protests) in hopes of military glory, leading to their captur
Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children’s Crusade: A Duty-Dance With Death (1969) is an anti-war science fiction novel by Kurt Vonnegut about World War II experiences and journeys through time of a soldier called Billy Pilgrim. Plot summary Chaplain’s Assistant Billy Pilgrim, a disoriented, fatalistic, ill-trained American soldier, is captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge and taken to a prison in Dresden. The Germans put Billy and his fellow prisoners in a disused slaughterhouse, known as “Slaughterhouse number 5”. The POWs and German guards alike hide in a deep cellar; because of their safe hiding place, they are some of the few survivors of the city-destroying firestorm during the Bombing of Dresden in World War II. Billy has come “unstuck in time” and experiences past and future events out of sequence and repetitively, following a nonlinear narrative. He is kidnapped by extraterrestrial aliens from the planet Tralfamadore. They exhibit him in a zoo with B-movie starlet
Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children’s Crusade: A Duty-Dance With Death (1969) is an anti-war science fiction novel by Kurt Vonnegut about World War II experiences and journeys through time of a soldier called Billy Pilgrim. Billy Pilgrim A fatalist optometrist ensconced in a dull, safe marriage, in Ilium, New York. He randomly travels in time and is abducted by the “four-dimensional” aliens from planet Tralfamadore. In WWII, he was a POW in Dresden, which has a lasting effect on his post-war life. His time travel occurs among disparate times of his life, re-living events past and future, and, so, becomes fatalistic (though not defeatist), because he has seen when, how, and why he will die. Sources: http://en.wikipedia.
