Tough=Reality

Carmen Solis

Throughout the novel, Slaughter Five, Vonnegut emphasizes on the War and shows that a vast number of lives are lost; however, he tries to use comedy to put a mask on the horrible times they went throughout the War. Let’s be honest, there is not a single pleasant aspect of the War that makes one want to remember it, but he tries to see the good side of it. After he came back from the War, he describes how “everybody become very tough.” From my standpoint of view, he is trying to say that toughness is how he and his former friend’s souls became stronger by their experience in the War. How the War made everything change, and by want it or not they had to grow-up physically, emotionally, and spiritually quickly. For instance, Billy and Vonnegut were really young when they became “soldiers” to fight for their country; they were twenty-one years old. And also, he stresses out that not only does the soldiers grow and become tough, but also the families and the nation grows with them, side by side. They became tough by heart by realizing the truth and how a life means a lot. Their losses and seeing how many people suffer made everyone tough.

On page thirteen, he is also talking about the veterans of the War. He describes them as been the “nicest and funniest ones.” He says that they are the nicest people because he knows how a War or a lost of a friend makes one realized how short a life is and how valuable a life is. It must be hard to see deaths and blood all over the place, but I think that those moments change someone’s mind. Makes them been more aware and try to be nice to everyone. The veterans are the funniest one, that is what Vonnegut says. I think that they use comedy and tell jokes because they want, at least, to forget about it and think that there were “good” moments on the War, even though they cannot remember one. They disguise their feelings and thoughts by putting a smile or a happy face. Vonnegut was on the War and he, somehow, sees a resemblance to them.