Slaughterhouse Five, By Kurt Vonnegut, Billy Pilgrim And...

Could the cruelest, most punishing soldier and a peaty chaplain’s assistant be at all alike? How are they different? When reading Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut, Billy Pilgrim and Roland Weary are some of the first characters you will meet. One is a no-life and the other a die hard army man. The characters are different yet very similar. Billy and Roland are similar even if they don’t realize it. Both characters, Billy Pilgrim and Roland Weary, are imaginative. Billy has a different type of imagining than from Roland. Billy’s way of thinking is to be more â€Å"out of the box† or fantasy. Kurt Vonnegut wrote in the book, â€Å"Slaughterhouse-Five,† about Billy Pilgrim saying, â€Å"And then Billy swung into life again, going backwards until he was†¦show more content†¦Right? A slit closes up. Right?’ ‘Right.’ ‘Shit. What do you know? What the hell they teach in college?’ ‘I wasn’t there very long,’ said Billy, which was true† (Vonnegut 37). As you can tell after reading that quote, Billy isn’t exactly the brightest bulb in the bunch. Not only does he not understand a word Roland is saying to him, but he also responds with the simplest and easiest answer every time Roland questions him, even if it’s rhetorical. Roland is his own brand of stupid. As quoted in this line  "He had been unpopular because he was stupid and fat and mean†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Vonnegut 35). Though they are very similar, Billy Pilgrim and Roland Weary also have many differences between themselves. An example of a difference is Billy doesn’t care about life while Roland does. Roland Weary is always trying and nothing matters to Billy Pilgrim. Roland’s life in the war is described as, â€Å" ...There was a big German attack, and Weary and his anti-tank buddies fought like hell until everybody was killed but Weary. So it goes. And then Waary tied in with two scouts, and they became close friends immediately, and they decided to fight their way back to their own lines† (Vonnegut 42). Roland Weary does care about life though. He has a set purpose in life, to be part of the â€Å"famous† â€Å"Three Musketeers†. â€Å"‘Yes, sir,’ said one of the scouts. ‘We’d like to stick together for the rest of the war, sir. Is there some way you can fix it so nobody will ever break up the ThreeShow MoreRelated Comic and Tragic E lements in Kurt Vonneguts Slaughterhouse Five1485 Words   |  6 PagesComic and Tragic Elements in Slaughterhouse Five    Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., is the tale of a World War II soldier, Billy Pilgrim. His wartime experiences and their effects lead him to the ultimate conclusion that war is unexplainable. To portray this effectively, Vonnegut presents the story in two dimensions: historical and science-fiction. 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In Kurt Vonnegut’s slaughterhouse five, Vonnegut, the author, ues enormous flashbacks, disorder shifts in time, and the use of short phrases, â€Å"so it goes† to convey the idea of lackRead MoreSlaughterhouse Five : The Atypical Novel1044 Words   |  5 PagesSlaughterhouse Five: the Atypical Novel Most great novels traditionally have one dynamic character with a strong personality that embarks on a prolonged pilgrimage. This character s demeanor or life is changed forever as a result of an event or obstacle they are forced to overcome. However; Kurt Vonnegut s Slaughterhouse Five breaks the mold of a traditional novel and blazes forward in a new and bizarre path. He uses a diverse cast of subordinate characters to make certain symbolic representationsRead MoreSlaughterhouse Five, By Kurt Vonnegut941 Words   |  4 Pageshistory. Just as in all largely fatal events, the survivors reflect upon the unbearable guilt and emotions they have experienced. 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