Symbolism In Slaughterhouse Five

War is a tragedy that nobody wishes to participate in, yet it is an ever present occurrence throughout the duration of time. Slaughterhouse Five, written by Kurt Vonnegut, is an antiwar novel but ironically doesn’t fixate on war itself. Traditionally, antiwar novels focus on the tragic deaths that occur, but this novel follows a survivor of the war, Billy Pilgrim. As a young adult, Billy is forcibly drafted into a war that he has no ambition to fight. With Billy’s lack of military skills he is quickly captured and taken in as a prisoner of war. He is eventually taken to Dresden where he survives a brutal bombing that will forever haunt him. Although Billy is physically alive, he is emotionally dead. Kurt Vonnegut uses Billy as a representation