"Slaughterhouse 5" by Kurt Vonnegut - The Archetypal Approach
INTRODUCTIONHaving reflecting the WWI and the anti-war oppositions of our author Kurt VonnegutSlaughter House 5 can be considered as one of the significant works of post modern American literature. In this work I am going to criticize this book regarding the elements of the Archetypal Approach; that is, the hero, his quest and sacrifice, mother earth and father sky, and elements of the world.
HERO, QUEST AND SACRFICENormally the term hero reminds the reader a robust and glorified character; however, in this book we happen to meet a weak and mentally ill one. So that, this disables the reader see the story from the perspective of a real strong hero who leave his place for a specific purpose, fights against evil or some other powerful mythological giants or dragons. Billy is an American soldier who fights in the WWII in Germany and who is not the right one to be sent to this bloody war even did not know why he was there in the battlefield. Normally real heroic characters symbolize the courage and the wisdom which he gains thorough in the battle against evil but in this story Billy gains nothing but mental illness questioning of time and death and in the end he dies. So, I think there is no strong links between our protagonist and heroic archetypal motifs. Only we can consider that our hero versus the Post Modern war phenomena and himself, his mental disorder as evil.
MOTHER EARTH AND FATHER SKYIn archetypal criticism we compare and contrast the elements of the book with mother earth and father sky. Mother earth symbolizes vitality, courage and optimism and father sky is referred to divinity. In this story, we do not happen to see any optimism or courage but misery and questioning. So we can state that mother earth do not exist in this novel. Moreover, the case of divinity in this story there is an illusion of father sky because in this book we see a loss of faith thorough the resolution part.
FOUR ELEMENTS IN THE WORLDThe four elements we believe the world consist
HERO, QUEST AND SACRFICENormally the term hero reminds the reader a robust and glorified character; however, in this book we happen to meet a weak and mentally ill one. So that, this disables the reader see the story from the perspective of a real strong hero who leave his place for a specific purpose, fights against evil or some other powerful mythological giants or dragons. Billy is an American soldier who fights in the WWII in Germany and who is not the right one to be sent to this bloody war even did not know why he was there in the battlefield. Normally real heroic characters symbolize the courage and the wisdom which he gains thorough in the battle against evil but in this story Billy gains nothing but mental illness questioning of time and death and in the end he dies. So, I think there is no strong links between our protagonist and heroic archetypal motifs. Only we can consider that our hero versus the Post Modern war phenomena and himself, his mental disorder as evil.
MOTHER EARTH AND FATHER SKYIn archetypal criticism we compare and contrast the elements of the book with mother earth and father sky. Mother earth symbolizes vitality, courage and optimism and father sky is referred to divinity. In this story, we do not happen to see any optimism or courage but misery and questioning. So we can state that mother earth do not exist in this novel. Moreover, the case of divinity in this story there is an illusion of father sky because in this book we see a loss of faith thorough the resolution part.
FOUR ELEMENTS IN THE WORLDThe four elements we believe the world consist