A Study Of Absurdity In Slaughterhouse Five

Kurt Vonnegut is one of the most influential postmodern fiction writers in America,and is a writer who characterizes humanitarianism and trenchant sarcasm.English novelist Graham Greene called him "one of the most outstanding contemporary fiction writers in America"(Greene,1957:7).He,the representative of"Black Humor" in the 1960s,is highly praised by scholars for the masterpiece Slaughterhouse Five.His writing is greatly influenced by the turbulent epoch,for instance,the crisis in the 1930s,the Second World War in the 1940s,the Korean War and McCarthyism in the 1950s,the Vietnam War in the 1960s and extended social turmoil in America.Living in contemporary world,Kurt Vonnegut feels that people are oppressed by technology and civilization,in which there is misery,disappointment,and death.In order to alleviate himself,both he and the characters in the fiction usually rely on scientific fantasy.Slaughterhouse Five satirizes the cruelty of society and absurdity of human,whose absurd theme,absurd characters and absurd narrative forms interest me very much.As a result,this thesis is to concentrate on these points.Based on exhaustive textual analysis and the research of the social background,this thesis is devoted to the following aspects:displaying the understanding of absurdity but also the theme of absurdity in Slaughterhouse Five,analyzing Billy Pilgrim's absurd character and anti-heroes.Meanwhile,this thesis focuses on multi-level interpretation to the circular structure,repetition and stream of consciousness revealed in the novel.This thesis is also devoted to displaying a perspective on connections to plots and title in Slaughterhouse Five.It is designed to help understand works of Kurt Vonnegut deeply.This thesis consists of five parts.The first part is the introduction,which gives a brief survey to the author,Kurt Vonnegut's personal experiences,introduction to his masterpiece Slaughterhouse Five,his main works,as well as literature review,including the critics of this novel from different perspectives both at home and abroad.Also in this part,this thesis puts forth the originality and structure.The second part studies the theme of absurdity described in Slaughterhouse-Five,presents the definition of absurdity,and analyzes the theme of in details.The third part is mainly about the absurdity in characters:anti-heroes of Billy and Roland Weary.Due to the influence of great unknown force from outside,all the characters behave strange and some of them are antiheroes with some shortcomings,such as Billy's weakness and Weary's pugnacity.This part also displays the spiritual frustration of characters which is embodied in his masterpiece Slaughterhouse Five.The fourth part explores the absurdity in narrative forms,which is analyzed in three major aspects:the circular structure,the repetition,and the stream of consciousness.Chapter five is the conclusion.It summarizes each chapter and confirms the social effect of Slaughterhouse Five.