Open AccessA Journey to Find a Therapy in the External World: Rereading of Slaughterhouse-Five
Author(s) -
Shi Yan
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
english language and literature studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1925-4776
pISSN - 1925-4768
DOI - 10.5539/ells.v2n4p34
Subject(s) - anguish , happiness , pilgrim , prosperity , aesthetics , psychoanalysis , psychology , literature , history , art , philosophy , political science , law , psychotherapist , epistemology , theology
In the journey to find a therapy to alleviate his anguish over the traumatizing Dresden experience, Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse-Five, has resorted to some comforts in the external world. However, both material prosperity and scientific advances prove unsatisfactory to help him since the former can not offer him happiness and the latter only leads to further destruction of the world. By thus portraying Billy Pilgrim the Everyman in his book, Vonnegut exposes a vivid image of post-war Americans who wished to look outward for more choices to achieve their human freedom from their painful memories of the tragedies in the war.