A Study Of The Black Humorous Style In Slaughterhouse-Five

Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007) is a famous black humorist in the United States. Slaughterhouse-Five, one of his representative novels, exposes the absurdity of society in western countries by employing the black humorous writing techniques.The development of black humor in the 1960s and the early 1970s marks the beginning of American postmodernism.In most of black humorous literary works, writers satirize the absurdity of some social phenomena with a cynical attitude in the form of comic tragedy. Vonnegut not merely abides by the principle, but also blends the science fictional elements in his works, making a unique black humorous style.This dissertation aims to summarize the black humorous features in the novel through the detailed analysis of Slaughterhouse Five and Vonnegut's experiences.During half the twentieth century, Vonnegut wrote to reveal social issues and explore the nature of human being as well. He composed many masterpieces such as Cat's Cradle, Jailbird and Slaughterhouse-Five.In the dissertation, I elaborate the black humorous style in Slaughterhouse-Five.First of all, the black humor style is embodied in the theme of the novel. The theme of anti-war, the theme of death and the theme of absurdity present the black humorous style in which writers always focus on the materials of dark sides in society. Slaughterhouse-Five is an anti-war novel and it is full of the description of war and death. Facing the threat of death, Vonnegut endows Billy the trauma which tortures him a great deal. Besides, the absurdity of war, life and even the whole modern society is understood thoroughly in the eyes of a black humorist.Secondly, the writing modes present the black humorous style in the novel, which include anti-narrative and anti-hero. Some postmodernist writing techniques, like the fragmentization of the plot and the circular narrative structure, are introduced in the dissertation.In order to rationalize the nonlinear narrative mode of Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut introduces the Tralfamadorian concept of time to the readers. Meanwhile, the author satirizes the disorder of the western society by illustrating this unique philosophy. Furthermore, the trauma caused by the Dresden complex in Billy Pilgrim's heart has been healed when Billy firmly believes the Tralfamadorian concept of time. Besides, the novel is an anti-heroic novel. Vonnegut does not portray any character in the novel as a real hero. Instead, he deprives the characters of dignity, such as Billy's cowardice, Weary's brutality. Vonnegut satirizes the agitated state of mind and the uneasy state of existence among people in the modern society.Thirdly, when taking notice of the function of art in the novel, we can see that the Tralfamadorian concept of time endows Billy with an ability to heal the trauma although Vonnegut believes he has no way out to deal with the absurdity of the world.In a ward, Slaughterhouse-Five focuses on some "black" themes and achieves humorous effect through the writing modes of anti-narrative and anti-hero together. Hence, Slaughterhouse-Five possesses the black humorous style in theme, in form and in content.