The Themes of Slaughterhouse-Five The first theme of Slaughterhouse-Five, and perhaps the most obvious, is the war and its contrast with love, beauty, humanity, innocence etc. Slaughterhouse-Five, like Vonnegut's previous books, manages to tell us that war is bad for us and that it would be better for us to love one another. To find the war's contrast with love is quite difficult, because the book doesn't talk about any couple that was cruelly torn …showed first 75 words of 1800 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1800 total…that, because it was so human. So she was turned to a pillar of salt. So it goes, (Vonnegut 1969 p.21-22). References: Brifonski and Mendelson (Editors); Contemporary Literary Criticism vol.8 Detroit: 1978; Gale Research Co Riley, Carolyn (Editor); Contemporary Literary Criticism vol.1 Detroit: 1973; Gale Research Co Riley, Carolyn and Barbara Harte (Editors); Contemporary Literary Criticism vol.2 Detroit: 1974; Gale Research Co Vonnegut, Kurt Jr.; Slaughterhouse-Five; or Children's Crusade, A Duty Dance with Death New York: 1971; Dell Publishing