Use of Literary Elements in Slaughterhouse-Five Essay Example for Free

Use of Literary Elements in Slaughterhouse-Five Essay Slaughterhouse-Five 1993. The true test of comedy is that it shall awaken thoughtful laughter. Choose a novel, play, or long poem in which a scene or character awakens thoughtful laughter in the reader. Write an essay in which you show why this laughter is thoughtful and how it contributes to the meaning of the work. English author George Meredith wrote, â€Å"The true test of comedy is that it shall awaken thoughtful laughter.† Slaughterhouse-Five would have been quite the comedy in Meredith’s eyes, because it is an extremely satirical work. Satire is writing that ridicules human weakness in order to bring about social reform. Ridicule, in this case, is humorous mockery of something, making people thoughtfully laugh about the situations which these characters find themselves in. In the Kurt Vonnegut novel Slaughterhouse-Five, the main character Billy wants only to have a normal American life, but his studies to become an optometrist are interrupted by his being drafted into the army during World War II and, as a prisoner of war, experiences the tragic bombing of Dresden. Then, he begins regular travels to the planet Tralfamadore. He also begins to become â€Å"unstuck in time;† he is time traveling. This essay discusses the use of satire in Slaughterhouse-Five to communicate to the reader the themes which are addressed in the book. In chapter four of Slaughterhouse-Five, satire is used through the comic depiction of a war film depicting the process of dropping bombs, all the way from mining the materials needed to make the bombs, to dropping them, to the planes landing back where they came from (74-75). This film, though, is described as it played backwards, as if somebody is rewinding a VHS cassette. Comic relief is the inclusion of something humorous often to heighten the emotional impact by means of contrast. The war film, when played backwards, conveys a very serious topic, but is lightened by the diverting and comical description of the reverse playing of the film. Comic relief is used to make the reader laugh and pay attention to what in other situations would be a very dry and boring scene, and likely think about it later. This part of the story addresses the destruction of war, a main theme  of Slaughterhouse-Five. By the use of comic relief, the reader is forced not to ignore the scene for fear of having to think about the destruction of war, satirically pointing out the reader’s distaste for tough topics such as the destruction of war. It also explicitly, yet not grossly, highlights the destruction of, specifically, dropping bombs as a wartime tactic. Farce is a comedy characterized by improbable plot situations, exaggerated characters, and broad satire. In Slaughterhouse-Five, one of the many instances of farce is the character Howard W. Campbell, Jr. (128-131). Campbell is an ex-prisoner of war who has turned his support to the Germans and is trying to form a unit of Americans who shift their allegiance to the Germans to fight against the Russian Communists. In his ridiculous and highly symbolic outfit, he tries to appeal to the American prisoners of war his ideas that the Germans are fighting for many of the same purposes as the Americans: against the Communists. Because of the outrageous and funny nature of Campbell, one is forced to think about the rash idealism which he stands for. Farce in this situation is used to denounce the metanarratives that are taught in war. It first emphasizes the craziness of the German ideal, and then the dogmatic wills of the Americans who do anything to reiterate their hatred for Communists. Then, when Edgar Derby, the leader of the American prisoners of war, stands up to speak against Campbell, the section is used to denounce the post-World War I anti-German metanarrative. Black comedy is the combining of morbid and serious topics with elements of low comedy to underscore the senseless futility of life. It is used as a form of comic relief in Slaughterhouse-Five while Billy is on a plane on the way to the convention of optometrists (155-156). His father-in-law asks the barbershop quartet to sing his favorite song. The song is quite comical and uses lots of low humor, such as cursing and parodying Polish accents. This reminds the author of a very serious time when Billy saw a Polish man being hanged in the street during World War II for having sexual intercourse with a German woman. The reader is pulled in by the funny song which is then related to the very serious topic of racial discrimination and hate. This connects to the theme of the terribleness of racial hatred. Irony is something that is opposite of what is meant, what is supposed to happen, or what makes sense. In Slaughterhouse-Five, irony occurs in the Kilgore Trout story about Jesus (109). He is a nobody, and for fun, the Romans crucify him. Then, they realize that he is the son of God and that he was an unfortunate person to kill. This causes the reader to rethink everything they have thought about the the gospel of Jesus Christ and free will, and also to laugh about their ignorance of this new idea of what really happened in the beginning of the New Testament. The theme addressed by this short story is that nobody is completely sure of what is going on, and somebody else such as God must be in charge, thus, there is no free will. Many themes are addressed in Kurt Vonnegut’s novel, Slaughterhouse-Five, like the denunciation of the metanarratives popularized during war, the disagreement with the legitimacy of the destruction of war, the horribleness of racial hatred, and the lack of free will. These topics are discussed in Slaughterhouse-Five through the use of humorous elements such as black comedy and farce. One may choose to think about these very important themes, and maybe they will affect one’s life.

The Mind, Music, And Behavior :: essays research papers

The Mind, Music, and Behavior abstract The main purpose of the paper is to investigate and present the relationship between the mind, music, and human behavior. For this purpose, research is presented on previous works and studies that link music with the mind. Based on this research, music increases neurotransmitter levels. Soft or mellow music has a tendency to promote tranquillity, while music with tempo sometimes distracts. Human memories can be cued by music, and music can promote improved learning. The brain is a two and a quarter pound piece of living organic tissue that controls the human nervous system. Music is a collection of sound waves that propagate through the air, and has varying frequencies and tones following a discernible order. Yet we all recognize the significance of the brain beyond its physical function. Our minds are the essence of what we are. The brain enigmatically stores memories, and lets people experience such things as emotion, sensations, and thoughts. In the same sense, music is more than just a collection of vibrations. This leads to the question of how does music affect the mind, and in addition, how does music affect human behavior? The reader might ask why such a question should be relevant. If more is known about the psychological and neurophysiological effects of music on the human mind, then the possibilities of this knowledge are unbounded. Music can be used to treat social and behavioral problems in people with disabilities. The use of music in the classroom might enhance or weaken a student's work characteristics. Therefore, whether the influence of music is positive or negative, much needs to be explored about the link between the mind and music. Physiologically, the brain receives information about sound waves from the ear through the auditory nerve. This information is then processed by the brain and analyzed for the juxtaposition of melody and rhythm. The mixture of melody and rhythm is what we commonly refer to as music. However, our minds interpret this auditory information as more than just sound signals; somehow, we are able to differentiate between certain types of music, and develop preferences for these different types. Yet, what are the ways in which the effects of music manifest themselves? First, there are particular biochemical responses in the human body to music. Research shows that college students, when listening to music, have more galvanic skin response peaks, as opposed to when they were not listening to music. This research also indicates a significant decrease of norepinephrine levels in students while they listen to "preferred" music. Norepinephrine is a neurotransmitter that arbitrates chemical communication in the sympathetic

Outline How Material Things Essay

This essay will outline how material things on City Road favour the activities of some groups of people over others by looking at Ethnicity, Class and Gender. City Road is a big road filled with lots of different cultures, gender, class, age and history. When walking down the road it can be seen that the belonging and not belonging in the society. It opens your eyes as to what exactly goes on in different societies and City Road is a big street with a lot of demands and structures in it. Over the years society changed and so did the street. It goes by what is in demand, how society changes and by the vast majority of different cultures coming into the area. You see a lot of people trying to conform to the society and many trying to hold onto their own identities. First of all I’m going to talk about the Ethnicity on the street. We are going to the Xquisite Africa shop. Janet, the lady that owns the shop originates from Africa and moved to the UK over ten years ago. When she came to the UK she thought that she had to change her identity and conform to the society. She sells a lot of things from Africa and by doing this she gets to hold onto her identity of the African culture and also appeals to customers from the same ethnic background. She felt after being in the UK for ten years that she had lost her identity and so she decided to take a trip back home to Africa to re-charge her batteries as she puts it. She wanted to re-gain her culture that she so desperately lost. This aspect could help her re-gain her culture and identity and allows her to share this with the right clientele from a multi-racial background. She can share a state of belonging to a social group that has in common a national or cultural background, whilst negotiating with people on the complex of different identities. She contributes to the African social life and society as well as on City Road. Therefore promoting her African background and understanding there is no need to conform to the society and changing her identity. We then move onto class in the Municipal Club. A social stratum, whose members share a certain economic, social or cultural characteristics. For this instance the working class. It is aimed at the local residents and has over 100 years of history. A group containing members regarded as having certain attributes of traits in common has slowly disappeared and they long for the society to change back to what they believed it was. Whilst in the (DVD, Making social lives on City Road, 2009, scene 5) Lloyd Robson talks to couple of residents in the club and gets their insight of what is going on. He asked them if they thought the club had a future. They said no. no-one wants to know it anymore and even the members have started to lose interest. But because the society has changed it meant that they described city road as being dangerous and rough. They long for the past. They want it to go back to what they say it used to be or imagined it. The inequalities and differences that has changed and also the traditions has been lost. They lack the sense of belonging they used to have when City Road used to be theirs. Then we come across the Sanna Silk shop. This is where the female is favoured over the male. It’s a family business orientated around females as they sell and make dresses of different materials. They get to choose their type of material and their patterns. It is mainly focused at Asian women. In the (DVD, Making social lives on City Road, 2009, scene 6 by Raghuran) she says â€Å"it is a very different way of portraying Asian women than I often seen in the media. † They also have a section for jewellery. Most of their jewellery is 22 carat gold and is mainly aimed at the women. They also have a selection for their wedding day. So it has an Asian culture that is even though yes men go in to buy but is very female orientated. Conclusion Therefore in City Road, my examples favour female gender activities over male, is a very multi-racial area and favours specific class over others. Therefore explaining that society changes all of the time and conforms to whatever is more in demand in that specific time of era.

Analysis Of The Article Ready, Fire, Aim, The College...

Journalist, and professor of higher education emeritus at the University of Maryland, College Park, Robert Birnbaum wrote the article â€Å"Ready, Fire, Aim, The College Campus Gun Fight† in which he writes about two sides which he defines as â€Å"MoreGuns† and â€Å"BanGuns† and if one sides argument holds more truth as to whether guns on campus is a positive or negative reality. The article comes from a magazine called Change Magazine. Change Magazine focuses on the modern issues that arise in higher learning. The purpose of the magazine is to inform the readers and stimulate thinking. He reaches audiences on both sides of the argument by adopting a mostly non-emotional, and logical tone that will connect with his readers using facts. Birnbaum builds trust with the reader by being respectful to both sides of the arguments and presenting facts for both sides, at first he appears to be in the middle of the issue, but then as the article continues he shows his fa vored stance on the legal side by referencing the constitution which increases the strength of his argument. Should guns be allowed on campus in any form? Birnbaum tries to answer this question by addressing the MoreGuns and the BanGuns sides. Birnbaum does a good job of presenting the facts and statistics then talking about them. 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