What does Kurt Vonnegut think of the bombing of Dresden?
Vonnegut himself once darkly stated that the Dresden bombings were so meaningless that he may have been the only individual to have gotten something out of them. “One way or another, I got two or three dollars for every person killed,” he once said. “Some business I’m in.”
What does Trout’s story about robots say about the bombing of Dresden?
What does Trout’s story about robots say about the bombing of Dresden? Humans are fundamentally okay with causing human suffering, but that they are petty and shallow, hating physical ailments.
How does Vonnegut describe Dresden?
Later in life, Vonnegut had something characteristic to say about the ultimate meaning of the experience. “The Dresden atrocity, tremendously expensive and meticulously planned, was so meaningless, finally, that only one person on the entire planet got any benefit from it.
What does the bird symbolize in Slaughterhouse-Five?
The Bird Who Says “Poo-tee-weet?” The jabbering bird symbolizes the lack of anything intelligent to say about war. Birdsong rings out alone in the silence after a massacre, and “Poo-tee-weet?” seems about as appropriate a thing to say as any, since no words can really describe the horror of the Dresden firebombing.
Did Kurt Vonnegut witness the bombing of Dresden?
As an American prisoner of war, Kurt Vonnegut witnessed the firebombing of Dresden, Germany in 1945 from the cellar of a slaughterhouse, an experience he later recounted in his most celebrated novel, “Slaughterhouse-Five.” His stand-in, Billy Pilgrim, described the event as “the greatest massacre in European history.”
Was the bombing of Dresden justified?
A 1953 United States Air Force report defended the operation as the justified bombing of a strategic target, which they noted was a major rail transport and communication centre, housing 110 factories and 50,000 workers in support of the German war effort.
What was the bombing of Dresden?
The American and British bombing of Dresden, Germany, which began February 13, 1945, was once viewed as an historical footnote to a much-wider story. After all, it took place near the end of World War II, a war characterized by atrocities too numerous to count.
How does Lazzaro justify the bombing of Dresden?
Lazzaro’s gruesome stories of revenge nevertheless have a code of their own: Lazzaro believes he must kill only those responsible for wronging him. The bombing in Dresden, on the other hand, will take the lives of innocent civilians, who never “did anything” to the Allies in the first place; this means they are not a legitimate military target.
When did Kurt Vonnegut write Slaughterhouse Five?
Then came the 1969 publication of a science fiction novel called Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. He had witnessed the bombing as an American POW, and survived by taking shelter in a meat locker in the historic German city.
How many died in the Battle of Dresden?
Estimated casualties range from 35,000 up to 135,000, a disparity due in part to the chaotic nature of all wartime bombings. The great number of refugees flooding into Dresden from the outlying regions, desperately hoping to escape the oncoming Russian army, complicates the details of this tragedy.