Geography_In_Literature

Geography In Literature Geography in Literature: Slaughterhouse Five By Kurt Vonnegut The geographic details intertwined with the plot of Slaughterhouse Five allow the reader to be pulled into the story and to envision the environment in which Billy Pilgrim lives. There are three distinct settings that are described throughout the novel; each one corresponding to a period in the life of the main character, Billy Pilgrim. Throughout Slaughterhouse Five, the story jumps from one setting to another and back and forth throughout time. Although sometimes confusing, the continuous change in geographic location and time period helps the reader to identify with Billy Pilgrim and his life story. The first of these geographic locations the reader comes across is that of war-ravaged Europe. In this period of his life, Billy is a prisoner of war traveling through the devastated landscape of World War II. His travels eventually lead him to Dresden, Germany. Peacetime America is the second significant environment in Slaughterhouse Five. After the war, Billy settles in Ilium, New York. Here, he prospers as an optometrist, and is a respected pillar to society. The third and final setting the reader is introduced to in the novel is very different from the other billy, pilgrim, war, slaughterhouse, planet, new, life, five, york, tralfamadore, time, settings, reader, prisoner, period, each, vonnegut, throughout, three, story, one, montana, locations, geographic, europe, another, zoo, world, way, very, trapped, tralfamadorians, theme, successful, setting