Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five

Kurt Vonnegut has written something that has captured the imagination of generations. His novel is entitled Slaughterhouse Five. This novel has put into use what the literary world call as blackened comedy, also known as black comedy. Dark comedy is basically a sub-genre of comedy that has satirical elements. This sub-genre typically tackles serious topics like death, struggle, rape, and the likes with wit and humor.I have selected three scenes of which Kurt Vonnegut displayed his talent in using dark comedy to hook his readers. The first scene that Ive picked is that where the arguable protagonists Billy Pilgrim and the unlovable fat soldier Roland Weary were captured by enemy troops.Those enemy troops who had captured them were not regulars. They were merely using equipment collected from absolutely soldiers. When the novel was first read by the public, they could have just thought that this was fiction. Maybe they werent aware that this is a reality in war. Equipment from the d ead is considered drop off rations since in that respect will always be shortages in wars. What the author had d one here is that with all the dark comedy packed into this novel, he had squeezed in bits of reality.The dark comedy there is that as readers we were caught off guard that we were already laughing at something that is brutally happening in reality. It could also be that the author is in favor of stripping the dead off their possessions since those things would only be beneficial to those who are still alive.The next dark scene that Ive picked is where the Valencia, the overweight married woman of the arguable protagonist Billy Pilgrim, died because of carbon monoxide poisoning. She was already on her way to see his husband. Then the unfortunate happened, or Kurt Vonneguts dark comedy make it happen, she died of carbon monoxide poisoning inside her car. The author had constructed the scene as if the death of Valencia didnt invoke sad emotion at all. Again, I believe that the execute of this is to show what is happening in reality.We dont need statistics to prove that there are countless wives out there who are left by their unfaithful husbands. But then, this dark humor could also be targeted to those who have eating and weight issues. The author may have wanted to show that close to overweight bring the problem upon themselves because just like Valencia, they cant stop eating. This could be the authors answer to why are there such a number of miserable people in this planet. It is because we cause our own problems.The last dark scene that I have chosen is when the prisoners of war were assigned to the dreadful task of digging up the graves for a lot of dead bodies after the town of Dresden was bombed. It was such an awful sight that one of those who were digging the graves threw up from the bad smell. He threw up so bad that he died. Again, there is no word that can perfectly pull in the scene than dark comedy.The author had beautifully used th e elements of dark humor, wit and irony. It is such an irony that the dead is in a sense free from the toils of universe alive and stuck in a war. That scene also shows that people can be pushed to do even the things that they wont imagine themselves doing. Anyone will submit when there is a gun pointed to you and your loved ones.All in all, the author had used dark comedy as a hook that has unbroken his readers turning the pages. Dark comedy also evokes a certain weird combination of the effects of entertainment and disgust.Work CitedVonnegut, K. Jr. Vonnegut, J. Slaughterhouse Five. NY Tandem definitive Books. 1999.