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Essay / Portrayal of Toxic American Masculinity in Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
'Slaughterhouse-Five' is a science fiction novel written by Kurt Vonnegut. The author of this novel wrote about the bombing of Dresden during World War II. The author of this novel witnessed it as an American prisoner of war and was able to survive by hiding in a slaughterhouse. This novel has two stories, the first story specifies Billy's meeting with the tired Roland and their capture by the Germans, their transfer to the prisoner of war camp then to the city of Dresden. In the novel's second story, Billy Pilgrim travels through time, from his wartime experience at a young age to his postwar experience and alien abductions. After reading the novel, it is possible to analyze the characters of Bertram Copeland Rumfoord, Wild Bob and Roland Weary as characters who represent American toxic masculinity. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essayIn the beginning, Bertram Copeland Rumfoord is a 70-year-old Harvard professor. As he is older, he is very energetic thanks to his physical strength. “He was on his honeymoon with his fifth wife when he broke his leg. Her name was Lily. Lily was twenty-three years old. These sentences from the story highlight the strength and masculinity of this Rumerfoord man. He broke his leg in a skiing accident in Vermont at the same time Billy had his plane crash. Both are injured and share the same room in the hospital. Rumfoord has worked on the history of the United States Army Corps during World War II and is remarkably fascinated by the investigation of the Dresden Raid. When Rumfoord and Billy are in the hospital, Rumfoord can't believe Billy was actually there, and he thinks Billy is just a useless waste of space. He considers Billy a vegetable who repeats what he has heard. The most crucial thing about Rumfoord is that he is a kind of superman: a respected Harvard professor, an author and an athlete who cannot consider that someone could be pitiful like Billy who has nothing to bring to the world. In the end, he determines that Billy may have been at the Dresden; he still had no interest in telling Billy about his experiences. He thinks the bombing of Dresden was necessary, even though Billy said it wasn't necessary and he repeatedly states his opinion on the bombing. He is overly suspicious of bleeding hearts who pretend that the air force did bad things by causing so many civilian deaths. He wants to celebrate the Dresden attack as “a resounding success”. Second, Wild Bob is an American infantry colonel who lost his entire regiment in World War II. Wild Bob meets Billy as a prisoner of war. He is extremely ill, suffering from double pneumonia due to this illness, he imagines Billy as a member of his regiment and gives him a moving speech. He asked Billy about his outfit saying "Are you from the Four Fifty-First?" and Billy replied "Four-fifty-first what". When Billy answered her question that he was from the "infantry regiment", he tearfully quoted: "It's me boys!" It's Wild Bob! These are the words he always hears from his troops. These sentences from the novel examine that Wild Bob wants to be a good leader and that he has good leadership skills. Some of his words become repeated refrains in the novel, these words are "If you're ever in Cody, Wyoming, just ask for Wild Bob!" "I was there". Something is terrible about Wild Bob's sharp character in this novel.