Kurt Vonnegut in Slaughterhouse-Five described that war will never be justified because innocent lives are always compromised. The text has three themes: the destructiveness of war, the illusion of free will, and inevitable death. Destructiveness of WarFor the setting of the story, Dresden was juxtaposed with Trafalmador. The first was hell on Earth and the second was heaven. After Dresden was bombed and soldiers emerged from a slaughterhouse, Dresden was devastated. According to Vonnegut it was clear that the intention was to kill everyone in Dresden. It was supposed that the civilians would all have to die, otherwise the project would be considered flawed. The total number of people who died in Dresden was 135,000, which was double the number who died in Hiroshima. This proved the author's point and theme: that war is always disastrous and destructive. In fact, the Dresden soldiers were considered dead from the beginning. They are depicted by the author as riding in a “coffin-shaped green wagon” (Vonnegut 194). The war was already absurd in the first place because Dresden was an open city with no military relevance, but it was still deemed worthy of being bombed. The non-chronological structure of Slaughterhouse-Five also strongly represented the author's point of view on the war. As Billy Pilgrim travels through periods of his life with no idea where he will go next, the author has shown the true nature of war: that it is both chaotic and disorganized. The fact that the author himself was narrated by Vonnegut shows his attempt to reconcile his experiences with the war. He is an author who hates war because he has extensive experience with it. The story closely resembles the author's experience of being a prisoner of war. He was caught by... in the middle of a sheet of paper... helpless, helpless and helpless... What Vonnegut would have us do is develop the wisdom to discriminate between what we can and cannot change, while at the same time developing the courage to change what we can. We have met Billy Pilgrim and he is us" (Harris 277). People are encouraged to rethink the idea that war is inevitable because such thinking is dangerous. Works Cited PageCox, F. Brett. "Criticism: Essay." Novels for Students. Ed. Diane Telgen and Kevin Hile.Vol 2. Detroit: Gale, 1998. 270-272.Harris, Charles B. "Criticism: Novel for Student Ed. Diane Telgen and Kevin Hile 272-274. Reed, Peter J. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. New York: Warner, 1972. “Slaughterhouse-Five.” 258-277. Vonnegut, Kurt Macello-Cinque: Dell, 1969.