The Atrocities of Dresden

In Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut uses the bombing of Dresden as a kind of Setting for the novel. The events of this bombing influence everything in Billy's Story, and he is repeatedly reminded of his trauma, only to forget about it again, as he travels to a different part of his life. In the climax of the novel, Billy finally remembers his experience at Dresden, and so his coming to terms with the bombing is a clear conclusion to Billy's emotional development. This Bombing of Dresden, due to both Billy and Vonnegut's strange experiences during it, is a key setting for the novel, and I want to look at why Vonnegut chose it as a setting.

The Bombing of Dresden, at the time of Vonnegut's writing, was one of the lesser known occurrences of the second world war, and so its nature, as an example of an allied atrocity, that no one knew about and that may have even been covered up made it a very interesting subject to cover. The concept of Americans committing such a mass bombing, in which it even hit captured Americans, as Vonnegut experienced, is so strange to imagine, but Vonnegut really experienced this bombing. Since then, though, the bombing of Dresden has almost gained a reputation, partially due to Slaughterhouse Five, as some kind of evidence that Germany and the US were in some way morally equivalent. This idea, I think, is very untrue, and so i disagree with Vonnegut's implications about the nature of the bombing, which I think contributed to this Idea. Overall though, the bombing of Dresden serves as an important setting for the book, through which Billy wanders.

Comments

  1. ZonaMay 10, 2020 at 11:59 PM

    It is interesting that the book itself ended up making a lot more people aware of the history of the Dresden bombings - I wonder how Kurt Vonnegut felt about that. It's like reality adding a little extra postmodern twist to an already wacky story.

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