Slaughterhouse-Five and the Dresden Carpet Bombing

     Slaughterhouse-Five, written by Kurt Vonnegut in 1969, is an anti-war science fiction novel that uses both humor and stark historical evidence to detail the horrors of World War II. 

     The protagonist of the story, a man named Billy Pilgrim, is a straggly young is drafted into the army during World War II. After being captured at the Battle of the Bulge, he discovers a unique ability: time-shifting. From then on, Billy can transport into the past and the future, enabling him to visit prison camps in Germany and beautiful untarnished cities like Dresden. After Russian forces occupy the city, Billy is released from duty. Returning to his hometown, he continues his life, finishing optometry school and even and getting engaged. However, after suffering a nervous breakdown, he commits himself to a mental hospital. When he is successfully recuperated, he gets married and continues with his life, going on to raise two children with his wife and amassing wealth. But his worst fears are not over; he has another break down when he sees a barbershop quartet which triggers a memory from Dresden and the Battle of the Bulge. 

     The plot of the story becomes more obscure from here on out. Billy is abducted by aliens looked like upside-down toilet plungers called Tralfamadorians. they are the ones to explain to Billy how he perceives time and help him access a fourth dimension. He returns to Earth but shares nothing of his experience. Meanwhile, he goes through a streak of bad luck: he gets into a plane crash on his way to an optometry conference, and his wife dies in a car crash after accidentally inhaling carbon monoxide. Finally, he feels ready to tell the world about his extraterrestrial encounters. He knows the time is right because he foresaw it's when he was time-tripping. The story wraps up with him predicting his death in 1976 when Chicago is hydro bombed by the Chinese. A vengeful man would hire a hitman to kill him, but as he experiences death, he would skip back to another part of time. This is a vision he seen multiple times. The novel ends with the phrase, “Poo-tee-weet?” referencing a prediction made at the beginning of the story.

     One of the more poignant scenes from the book is when the Allies carpet bomb the city of Dresden. This was an actual historical event that took place during World War II. The firestorm created a vacuum on the ground that sucked up trees, people and even the oxygen out of evacuation buildings. The result was the horrific deaths of around 75,000-130,000 people. In Slaughterhouse-5, Billy was one of the soldiers tasked with removing the bodies, what's forever scarred by the carnage he witnessed; it was these horrors he saw that triggered his breakdowns and time-tripping episodes. Truly, the magnitude of destruction and death brought about by the Allies’ bombing was so devastating that many consider it a war crime.

Sources:

https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-dresden-germany-bombing-world-war-ii-2018-2

https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/slaughter/summary/

https://medium.com/the-coastline-is-quiet/history-and-absurdity-slaughterhouse-five-and-world-war-ii-662cb90f307b

https://www.shmoop.com/slaughterhouse-five/ending.html