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Adlai Lamason
Mr. Hackett
AP Literature
10/26/15
The Medias Influence Over Societys Endless Strife with War
John F. Kennedy once said, Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to
mankind (BrainyQuote). War never ceases to plague human civilization and in Slaughterhouse
Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Vonnegut personifies JFKs warning through the construction of an
atypical war novel. During the process of beginning his novel, the character form of Vonnegut
comes to the realization that the reason why there has never been a permanent end to war is
because it has never been accurately relayed to the public. Whether a story about war is being
shared as a movie, newspaper, or book, its true significance--the destructiveness of war--is lost
amongst a mollified recalling of events to make it more appealing to audiences. Kurt Vonnegut
writes Slaughterhouse Five out of chronological order to prove to readers that humanity will be
stuck in an endless cycle of war because of medias failure to portray war to be as bad as it
actually is.
In most books, specifically in war novels, the plot is set up with a beginning, middle, and
end. Although said books do include the horrifying events that always occur in wars, they are
often overshadowed by other aspects of the storys plot such as a love story, an admirable
achievement, or a successful battle. Matheson points out, Epic war novels that make their
authors rich likely have a mass appeal. To achieve this appeal, one suspects some sort of
romantic sugarcoating of events (218). This process of sugar coating is an accurate
description of the process of romantification that goes into creating a book and is mimicked by

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authors in order to ensure success. Contrary to humans, Tralfamadorians do not write novels with
events told in a linear fashion, instead they read them all at once, not one after the other. There
isnt any particular relationship, except that the author has chosen them carefully, so that, when
seen all at once, they produce an image of like that is beautiful and surprising and deep
(Vonnegut 88). Because Vonneguts character is enlightened by the Tralfamadorian ways, the
final format of Slaughterhouse Five ends up mimicking the Tralfamadorians format. This not
only allows the bombing of Dresden to be fully developed, but because it is only one even that is
being focused on, there is no room for a glorified recitation of events. The reason why Vonnegut
first set out to write a book about the bombing of Dresden is because he learned from a
government official that the files regarding the bombing were top secret still (Vonnegut 11).
Vonneguts character was astonished by this finding and made a point that his book would show
the true horrors of war by accurately retelling the story of Dresden. The use of an anachronistic
storyline provided the platform to achieve this goal and because it was created in order to spread
truthfulness, not to earn money, it didnt have the same deceiving effect on the public as typical
books.
Vonnegut mocks the trade of producing well received books by describing himself As a
trafficker in climaxes and thrills and characterization and wonderful dialogue and suspense
confrontations, I had outlined the Dresden story many times. The best outline I ever made, or
anyway the prettiest one, was on the back of a roll of wallpaper....I used my daughters crayons.
(4). The usage of the word trafficker shows how corrupt the process of a writing a war novel
has become. Matheson writes, a trafficker in literature must be a writer who presents for
consumption something artistically improper, a kind of literary contraband or drug. (222). In
society, a trafficker is known as one who pushes the drug or sex trade in order to meet the

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demands of people who receive pleasure from the aforementioned contraband. In the context of
Vonneguts message, the improper trade is the production of war novels by authors that leave
readers with pleasurable feelings, but misguide their thought process to the point of not being
able to be permanently impacted by the atrocities of war. The combination of exciting events and
a coherent storyline that makes sense to readers is the reason why Vonnegut describes this outline
draft to be the best. Vonnegut himself didnt actually believe that the outline had any substance
but, as Matheson puts it, the pretty outline is superficially attractive. Additionally, because it
was his young childs crayons that he used to sketch the outline, it reduces to activity common to
many authors to something that is puerile and unadvanced, thus criticizing the majority of
authors who attempt, but fail in Vonneguts opinion, to write something of literary merit that
benefits society.
Vonnegut sought help from from his old war buddy and went to his house in hopes of
getting inspiration from his book while discussing their experiences over war. What Vonnegut
did not expect was that his friends wife, Mary OHare, would be the actual one to help him by
pointing out that with the current state of his book, it would be no better than any other war book
ever made. After hearing Vonneguts characters ideas, she complains Youll pretend you were
men instead of babies, and youll be played in the movie by Frank Sinatra and John Wayne or
some other glamourous, war-loving, dirty old men. War will look just wonderful, so well have a
lot more of them.(Vonnegut 14). In reality, soldiers who survive war are usually drunken men
who suffer from an array of psychological defects most prominently, Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder. They are not able to function in society to the level that they did before the war,by
hiring glamourous old men, directors make men who served time to come are more brave and
mature than they actually are. This diminishes the importance of the consequences of war which,

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if represented accurately, would have the power to move a nation into being proactive about
avoiding war at all costs. Mary emphasizes the issue with age as she points out to Vonnegut You
were just babies then! (14). The use of old actors would make the war seem like a noble right
of passage, such as a bar mitzvah, that transforms young boys into mature old men. Because of
the impact that war has on ones mind and body, soldiers commonly become more vulnerable
than strong after war which would make the inclusion of old actors to be a misrepresentation.
Out of all the old actors that Mary could have chosen for her example it's significant that she
used Frank Sinatra and John Wayne as opposed to anyone else because they were the epitome of
the perfect man and were extremely famous. Resultingly, audiences become caught up in the
glamour of the movies and seldom care about the actual message being shared, or the fact that
the movies are inaccurate representations of war. Without Mary OHares criticisms, Vonneguts
book would have ended up the same as the others and his agreement and respect to her
arguments were demonstrated through the dedication of Slaughterhouse Five to Mary herself.
Media can be utilized as a liaison between news and the way that the public interprets
news. In the case of Slaughterhouse Five, the media obscures the truths of war so much that the
public is ignorant to the degree of how detrimental war actually is, thus war is never permanently
ended. Vonnegut points out through use of an atypical story plot is that use of a chronological
telling of events is the main factor that attributes to the medias misrepresentation of war. As a
result of the anachronistic set up of events, Slaughterhouse Five is set apart from any other book
which allows it harsh portrayal of war to leave a lasting impression in the minds of reader and
contribute to the cause of stopping the continuous cycle of war.

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Bibliography
Matheson, T. J. ""This Lousy Little Book": The Genesis and Development of Slaughterhouse
Five as Revealed in Chapter One." Studies in the Novel 16 (1984): 228-40. Print.