"The ones who hated war the most, were the ones who'd really fought."

Slaughterhouse-Five is, in addition to the overarching theme of free will, an anti-war book. The story was written by a veteran of WWII, the bloodiest war in human history. The first chapter of the book tells Vonnegut's story of his involvement in WWII, specifically the incident in Dresden. "All this happened, more or less. The war parts, anyway, are pretty much true. One guy I knew really was shot in Dresden for taking a teapot that wasn't his. Another guy I knew really did threaten to have his personal enemies killed by hired gunmen after the war. And so on." In the story, Vonnegut expounds in the story of Billy Pilgrim the futility and pointlessness of war. He uses Pilgrim's indifference to provide a neutral, non-sugar-coated view of the horrors of war. This view reminded me of a very powerful song I had heard before, "Hero of War" by Rise Against. As a warning, this song does use slight profanity; however, the profanity is not the important part; the message is.

Vonnegut and Rise Against both show different sides of the horrors of war. Vonnegut showed the inherent ridiculousness of taking the time to execute one man for petty theft while men are dying by the thousands outside, the massive civilian casualties, and the barbarism of the soldiers of both sides. Rise Against shows torture, the loss of friends, and a soldier suffering from PTSD. Vonnegut, in his personal life, was adamantly anti-war, which is shown in his writing. He uses Slaughterhouse-Five as a testament to his vendetta against war.