A recurring idea that we have noticed in class and pointed out repeatedly is Kurt Vonnegut's use of the passive voice throughout Slaughterhouse Five. His use of this grammar structure is no coincidence as it goes along with the character of Billy Pilgrim and undermines the war narrative that we so often see in American society.
As we know, Pilgrim is not our typical war hero. Whenever I think of soldiers in the war, the ideal figure that I imagine in my head is a strong confident white male fighting for his country. Pilgrim is the complete opposite of this image; he is small and the last thing he wants is to be in the war. Pilgrim never does anything on his own accord, everything happens to him rather than him doing things. Therefore the use of the passive voice to talk about Pilgrim fits perfectly with his character.
Throughout history, America glorifies war and make it something to take pride in. One example of war glorification that I thought of while reading the novel was Why We Fight, a war propaganda movie which we saw in Race, Class, Gender in the 20th Century. The movie was shown to all the recruited soldiers of World War II to motivate them for the war. The movie is extremely pro-war, putting down other countries making them seem evil while making America seem like the greatest country to be fighting against them. Slaughterhouse Five shows a completely different narrative to what I saw in Why We Fight, and other classic pro-war examples. Firstly the whole idea of the novel, revealing the horrors of Dresden which America has erased from its history, reveals the true role of America in the war. Obviously we did not do what the Nazis did to people, but to say that we were the war heroes would not be completely right. By using the passive voice to talk about the events, it undermines the war story because it reveals the events that happened as something that just happened, rather than twisting the events to make them seem like something to take pride in.
I definitely agree the Vonnegut's choice to use almost entirely passive voice throughout Slaughterhouse Five is a deliberate one. It enhances the idea that war (and anything else that happens) isn't the result of any one individual or their actions, but rather just a thing that occurs, so no one should feel pride or guilt or anything else because it's just how the moment is structured. This narrative is a direct contradiction to the typical war story, and sort of takes away the possibility that anyone will admire or want to resemble Billy Pilgrim- who, as you note, is incredibly distant from the ideal soldier.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both you and Nathalie on this. The passive voice reinforces the soldiers, especially Billy, as the "listless playthings of enormous forces." The other thing you mentioned about /Why We Fight/ was the demonization of the enemy; the most demonized enemy we see is the ex-American Nazi Campbell, and he's more ridiculous and maybe punchable than demonized. And as we mentioned in class, his ideas are scarily familiar. Everyone else (think of the contingent that finds Weary and Billy, including two old guys, an angelic boy, and a bewildered dog) is startlingly human.
ReplyDeleteNice post! I agree with the other commenters. We definitely tend to glorify war in American history, not to mention in every history class in general. I'd guess that more than half the stuff we have learned about have centered on war in some way. War seems to be the time when the most history shaping events occur, not to mention some of the greatest future shaping technologies are developed.
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