Kurt Vonnegut s Slaughterhouse Five - 902 Words

I. Introduction A. Hook 1. PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder, is an anxiety disorder that develops in some after they experience extremely traumatic events, such as combat. Those with PTSD may relive the event via intrusive memories, flashbacks and nightmares; they would do anything to avoid memories of trauma, including inventing an alternate planet. 2. Billy, the main character in Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse-Five, experienced firsthand the trauma of war during the firebombing of Dresden. After this event, Billy created Tramfaladore, the planet where time does not exist. B. Summary 1. In Kurt Vonnegut s novel, Slaughterhouse-Five, he waves a story of destruction, war, mental health, and time travel to demonstrate the†¦show more content†¦There were sounds like giant footsteps above.† (Vonnegut 177) b. â€Å"A guard would go to the head of the stairs every so often to see what it was like outside, then he would come down and whisper to the other guars. There was a firestorm out there. Dresden was one big flame. The one flame ate everything organic, everything that would burn.† (Vonnegut 177). c. Events that are more emotionally difficult are focused on less; instead of time travelling to the bombing, Billy remembers it (Harris). This makes the traumatic event less immediate, allowing for distance between the horrors of war and the present. 3. Non-linear fashion of SHV a. No specific climax or chronological order: events do not follow the traditional ‘linear’ fashion of novel. 1. Time is not a linear progression of events, but a constant condition: â€Å"All moments, past, present, and future, all have existed and always will.† → Tralfamadorian principle 2. The Tralfamadorians provide Billy with the concept of nonlinear time, which becomes the foundation for a mode of living (Vanderwerken). 3. â€Å"I am a Tralfamadorian, seeing all time as you might see a stretch of the Rocky Mountains. All time is all time. It does not change. It does not lend itself to warnings or explanations. It simply is. Take it moment by moment, and you will find that we are all, as I’ve said before, bugs in amber.† (Vonnegut 86) b. Events are seemingly randomized: the reader can interpret