Number 8...Why are you in here, Mr. Slovik?

Private Eddie Slovik’s name will be recorded in history as the only American soldier to be executed for desertion post civil war era. Why, though, did Vonnegut choose to reference Slovik in Slaughterhouse Five? We’ve discussed in class that Vonnegut puts some of his own ideals and beliefs from the war into the characters, and one possible suggestion to answer why this passage is included is due to this. This scene with Billy occurs in 1965, after World War II and after the execution. Vonnegut may have been worried during the war of what would happen if someone deserted. Why didn’t Billy desert though, after all we’ve learned about him. He is weak of mind, weak of faith, and doesn’t seem to care too much for the war. It’s clear from the text that he wasn’t well liked, especially through the way that Roland Weary treated him. “He couldn’t hurt his enemies or help his friends.” I think Vonnegut is using Billy to show that deserting during war is not the right thing to do, even though he is anti-war. He is still a patriot, and still cares about his country, so obviously he wouldn’t agree with deserting from war, therefore his character doesn’t.

On a more realistic note, without all of the analysis, Vonnegut could be using this to not only show the history and negative sides of war that escape the public eye, but also to assist in his anti-war theme. This specific passage shows that though war is terrible for our enemies, it also can be terrible for its own. Nobody wins in war, a point that I think Vonnegut and many other anti-war activists stress. Vonnegut also could be saying that the government itself needs to change. According to Huie, of whom the excerpt comes from, “He has directly challenged the authority of the government, and future discipline depends upon a resolute reply to this challenge.” In Vonnegut’s eyes, this quote may mean that the authority of the government should change, because Slovik is the only of the 21,000 deserters in the war that was executed. I’m sure if every one of these soldiers had been executed, Vonnegut would have a problem; but I think because it was only one that it particularly is important to Vonnegut.