Violence In The Vietnam War

Words: 279
Pages: 2

Kurt Vonnegut's portrayal of War is neither glorious nor shameful, but rather he presents the complex nature of war and argues about the blurred line that separates heroes and villains. In chapter two, Vonnegut describes the violence Roland Weary applied to “save” Billy Pilgrim. “He had been saving Billy's life for days, cursing him, kicking him, slapping him, making him move. It was necessary that cruelty be used because Billy wouldn't do anything to save himself” (Page 43). The violence which Weary justified as required to rescue Billy even though Billy did not wish to be free from danger, represents and symbolizes the political atmosphere of mid-20th century America, and outlines the American imperialistic tendency to use violence to “save” other nations from falling into communism, a permanent ideological foil of Capitalism. …show more content…
An example would be the Vietnam war, a majority of Vietnamese supported the transition into a communist nation; however, The United States deemed this support “wrong” and used violence in an attempt to subjugate Vietnam. For the fighting and dying Americans, the spread of communism was the real enemy. Conversely, the Americans were the real enemy for the fighting and dying Vietnamese. The issue of who is the true enemy and saviors in the Vietnam War is still hotly debated. To relate back to Slaughterhouse Five, All in all, war is complex, with opposing sides all believe what they are fighting for is the right reason, and denouncing the other rival, war is not fought to rid of wrong, but for the subjective wrong to be objectively