Slaughterhouse Five – A Review

Slaughterhouse Five is a book that is often challenged and has even been removed from schools and public libraries due to its content. It was written by Kurt Vonnegut back in 1969 and follows the main character, a aptly named Billy Pilgrim.

Short Synopsis of Slaughterhouse Five

Billy Pilgrim is a fairly weak man who was attempting to become an optometrist before he was drafted into the army during World War 2.  Unfortunately not only does he not like wars, but he is poorly trained before he is sent off oversees.

At the Battle of the Bulge, Billy Pilgrim and Ronald Weary were captured and taken to Dresden to be kept in a slaughterhouse. The building he was in, as you could have guessed, was titled slaughterhouse number five.

Unfortunately for poor Billy, Ronald Weary was a bully who constantly nagged at Billy due to being weak and not pro-war. However, Ronald died shortly after due to some gangrene caused by wooden clogs the Germans forced him to wear. Before Ronald died, he made another soldier named Paul Lazzaro promise to take his revenge out on Billy because he blamed Billy for his death.


When Dresden was bombed, Billy, the other POWs, and the German guards, hid in a cellar and were some of the few survivors from the bombings. A few days later Russians capture the city of Dresden and Billy is able to go home.

Later on in his life Billy is apparently kidnapped by aliens that were from the Tralfamador planet. Billy claims that these aliens put him on exhibit and also taught him about their unique concept of time. At some point Billy is returned to earth and he continues on his business like normal. Unfortunately he had a few traumatic life experiences afterwards.

On the way to a conference Billy’s plane crashed and he had to have surgery. While he was in the hospital his wife drove go to visit him but also crashed in the car, unfortunately she didn’t survive. Its then that Billy’s daughter places him under the watch of a nurse in New York however he begins to reveal to the world his experiences with the aliens. He even goes as far to go to a radio talk show, and write a letter into a paper.

Billy claims to know when he will die, and states that it will be by a laser gun while he is giving a speech on aliens in Chicago on Feb. 13, 1976. However he adopts the Tralfamadorian’s view on time and death, stating that when he dies he will just ‘visit’ another point in his life where he is not dead.

Slaughterhouse Five is written in a disjointed way because Billy is viewing each piece of his life separately. He claims to be able to travel through time and the meme ‘so it goes’ refers to the lack of importance placed on death.

Main Themes in Slaughterhouse Five

Sight – This is a constant theme throughout Slaughterhouse Five. Not only is Billy Pilgrim an optometrist (someone who corrects peoples vision) but he also ‘sees’ the truth in the Tralfamadorian’s theory on time. Kurt Vonnegut could be using this as something ironic since the more Billy tries to correct peoples sight/way of thinking and tell them how time and life really works, the more people think he’s crazy.

So it goes – Kurt Vonnegut uses this multiple times throughout Slaughterhouse Five and it is for a reason. So it goes is supposed to symbolize the insignificance of death. How things move on and the world continues without any sort of hiccup. This is due to Billy’s ‘enlightened’ view of how time works and how the Tralfamadorians think death is just a small moment in time when you’re no longer living.

Free Will – This is one of the more controversial topics in Slaughterhouse Five because the Tralfamadorians view free will as something that is only found on Earth. When you think of time in Billy and the Tralfamadorians’s point of view then you’ve already died at the same time you are living. Your life is already laid out and you can visit each point. Though this means that you can’t ‘alter’ the future, that you can’t choose; therefore according to the Tralfamadorians free will is non existent and just a fantasy of humans.

Why is Slaughterhouse Five controversial?

Slaughterhouse Five is a commonly banned book and for a variety of reasons. Not only does Kurt Vonnegut’s depiction of free will offend some sensitive readers, but it also depicts homosexuals in the army termed ‘fairies’. He mentions that the homosexuals were among the victims in the Holocaust, something that is rarely discussed.

On top of that he depicts sex, has ‘foul’ language and is generally hitting all of the negative points for censor happy critics. As a result Slaughterhouse Five is mentioned in the news due to its banning:

News on Slaughterhouse Five being banned.

Find out more about Slaughterhouse Five and other censored books here.