Slaughter House Five Essay
Question 1 Christopher Balderas
I think telling a story out of sequence makes the story more effective in conveying its message after you have read the whole story. In the beginning of an out of sequence story you might have a lot of questions on why things are occurring, and why the author would tell you, for example, the end of the story at the beginning of the book. The disorganization of the story would lead the reader to read more carefully to allow him/her to clearly comprehend the message in the story. The author leads the reader to want to read more and more so there won’t be any unanswered questions in the middle of the story. While telling a story out of order might seem more confusing it makes the reader become more aware of what’s going on in the book. When you are more aware, you understand the message more effectively. I think Slaughterhouse Five was written out of sequence to keep the “average” reader from accessing it. When you are an “average” reader you would want a story that goes from begging to end and be very straightforward; not wanting to be confused all the time. Slaughterhouse Five is a brief jumbled up response of Vonnegut’s experience in the Dresden firebombing. Vonnegut specifically wrote it in an out of sequence manner because when he wanted to write it in sequence he was incapable of doing so. He couldn’t write it in order because of his personal struggle to remember the horrific events that he experienced in the Second World War. Billy Pilgrim was the way Vonnegut explained what happened. Vonnegut had Billy go through what he went through without thinking it was him going through all those experiences which made it easier on his part. An “average” reader wouldn’t at all understand that and with all these different events going on with Billy pilgrim time traveling to different events in his life, the reader wouldn’t
I think telling a story out of sequence makes the story more effective in conveying its message after you have read the whole story. In the beginning of an out of sequence story you might have a lot of questions on why things are occurring, and why the author would tell you, for example, the end of the story at the beginning of the book. The disorganization of the story would lead the reader to read more carefully to allow him/her to clearly comprehend the message in the story. The author leads the reader to want to read more and more so there won’t be any unanswered questions in the middle of the story. While telling a story out of order might seem more confusing it makes the reader become more aware of what’s going on in the book. When you are more aware, you understand the message more effectively. I think Slaughterhouse Five was written out of sequence to keep the “average” reader from accessing it. When you are an “average” reader you would want a story that goes from begging to end and be very straightforward; not wanting to be confused all the time. Slaughterhouse Five is a brief jumbled up response of Vonnegut’s experience in the Dresden firebombing. Vonnegut specifically wrote it in an out of sequence manner because when he wanted to write it in sequence he was incapable of doing so. He couldn’t write it in order because of his personal struggle to remember the horrific events that he experienced in the Second World War. Billy Pilgrim was the way Vonnegut explained what happened. Vonnegut had Billy go through what he went through without thinking it was him going through all those experiences which made it easier on his part. An “average” reader wouldn’t at all understand that and with all these different events going on with Billy pilgrim time traveling to different events in his life, the reader wouldn’t