During the panel presentations, an interesting idea came up for discussion. There was the astute observation that many who have fought a war may not always want to share their war stories and the level of sharing really depends on the person. However, we the readers, many of whom have not and never will see a war through first hand experience, crave the vivid images and heart pounding images we associate with wars. So, perhaps this is the reason why many find themselves frustrated with the novel. Since there aren't too many scenes depicting war in the classic, detail oriented sense, the reader gets bored and confused with talk about this other world that the protagonist travels to.
The whole other planet that Billy travels to is an issue entirely to itself. What exactly does it represent? In fact, it can really be used as supporting evidence for a whole list of different idea we can take away from Slaughterhouse-Five. I think that Tralfamodore and the zoo is meant to represent how Vonnegut feels when it comes to writing this novel. Vonnegut feels like this cage animal where people watch him, expecting and goading him to do what they want (in this case right a classic war epic). Yet, there is something so very zen about the Tralfamodrian idea of letting things happen. This zen-ness almost acts as this force that calms Vonnegut down and has him refocus and get him back on track to talking about the fire bombing of Dresden. Ultimately, it never is 100% clear if this novel is an anti war novel or anti-war novel. But Vonnegut's use of Tralfamodore is an interesting vehicle to help him make several points at once without a messy plot line despite the absurdity of time and space traveling.
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Chapter 1 might suggest that the "antiwar novel"/"anti-war novel" distinction isn't an either/or: Mary O'Hare suggests that war novels in a sense promote/encourage/glorify war, and this makes more wars happen ("the babies upstairs" will have to fight them, in part because they're under the spell of war novels/movies). Thus, a novel that works somehow counter to "the war novel" will also have the effect of discouraging war?
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