A Study Of Absurdity Art In Slaughterhouse-Five

Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five is one of masterpieces in postmodernistnovels. It is very popular among readers and critics. Vonnegut also gained fame afterhe published this novel.There are many books and papers which analyze Slaughterhouse-Five. Some ofthem analyze from respects of themes, black humor, metafiction, and postmodernism.Though some people study from the aspect of absurdity which reflects in the novel,these academic works do not systematically anatomize the absurdity in this novelfrom various aspects. Therefore, it is necessary for someone who summarizes theresearch achievements and does further reach on this subject. This thesis aims toexplore the absurdity in Slaughterhouse-Five from three fields, including absurdoccurrences, absurd characters, and absurd form.This thesis is divided into three sections: introduction, body and conclusion.The introduction briefly introduces Kurt Vonnegut, the literature ofSlaughterhouse-Five and theory of absurdity.The body contains three chapters. The first chapter discusses the absurd mattersin this novel. Because Billy suffers from schizophrenia because of the cruelty of war,he can alter time and space through his will, even he imagines that he is kidnapped byTralfamadorians who are extraterrestrials from another planet. From that planet, helearns something about time and life, and then he feels numb and indifferent whensomeone dies. Living in this absurd world, people need some lies to keep on theirliving. In order to achieve their interests, Government officials also make up some liesto make people live in illusionary world. In Chapter Two, The absurdity which isreflected in characterization is analyzed in this part. Due to the influence of greatunknown force from outside, all the characters behave strange and some of them losehumanity and dignity as human beings. Some of them are antiheroes with someshortcomings, such as Billy’s weakness and Weary’s pugnacity. Some are humanbeasts who lose humanity. Some people are indifferent to others’ sufferings. Inaddition, American government makes people disappointed and people do not trust their nation. As a result, they live in a meaningless world and begin to enjoy earthlypleasure and wealth. Lots of people begin to pursue material enjoyment on the pretextof achieving American Dream. They even use unscrupulous divisive tactics in order tosatisfy their desires. The chapter three illustrates the writing style of this novel. Thecircular structures, the parody of Jesus, Eden, official historical recording and thestream of consciousness add more fantastic means to the novel. The application ofthese new writing techniques makes readers understand the themes and emotionaltone of the novel.The conclusion sums up the main ideas of each chapter and confirms the socialeffect of Slaughterhouse-Five.