Slaughterhouse-Five By Kurt Vonnegut: Literary Analysis

In the novel “Slaughterhouse-Five” written by Kurt Vonnegut, he tells a story through the lens of a young boy who was enlisted in the army while pursuing optometry school and how throughout his life he then began to experience moments in his life where he would timehop from dimensions between his past and his future. During one of these instances, he was kidnapped by these aliens called “Tralfamadorians”, and taken hostage where a significant topic was discussed concerning the idea of free will. Free will is the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate or the ability to act at one's own discretion, and Vonnegut makes it apparent that the notion of free will is a societal norm that we have fabricated as humans throughout time. During this encounter

Within the novel he provides both sides of this where it can be seen where have free will and that we do not. For example, before Billy Pilgrim’s plane crashes, he has a feeling that the plane is going to crash but does not speak up to stop the occurrence. Furthermore, the plane crashes and this could be seen as a demonstration for how events are already concrete and almost unavoidable to stop its occurrence. Also, this could be seen with how Billy had already seen and knew of his death before it had happened. He knew where it was going to happen and how it was going to happen. He knew it was unavoidable so it let his life take its course without him trying to interfere to prevent what should happen. On the other hand, Billy seems to act on his own desires with how he will not let people interfere with his life and how he wants to live it. Again, Vonnegut does this so both sides of the argument can be supported and seen for his own audience to develop their very own opinion about the