Exposure

In the fifth chapter of Slaughterhouse-Five, the moral weaknesses of Americans are exposed and mocked by the Englishmen and the Germans. In addition, Billy Pilgrim's seeming insanity and foolishness are touched upon by the same men as well as his daughter and the Tralfamadorians.

It is stated by the fictitious war criminal and traitor Howard W. Campbell that "it is in fact a crime for an American to be poor, even though America is a nation of poor." This is said while the Americans are piling over and trampling one another in the latrines, much to the utter disgust of the physically and mentally fit Englishmen. America was and is, in some ways still, unique in that it attaches a negative stigma to poverty. In the eyes of the wealthy American, their wealth came entirely from their hard work, and thus all the poor must have been lazy. Meanwhile, the poor were taught to hate themselves, as in America there was no legitimate excuse for poverty. The end result is the mental state of Americans seen and satirized in Slaughterhouse-Five; sniveling, backstabbing cowards who feel no kinship toward their fellow American. In the book, Vonnegut even satirizes himself, inserting himself into the story as an American in the latrine screaming about excreting every organ in his body, ending with his brain.

Pilgrim himself is also satirized parallel to America. The British and Germans see him as a weak and mentally broken in addition to all the other negative American traits. His daughter views him as losing his grip on reality. She begins to systematically strip him of his freedom to keep his odd behavior in check. The Tralfamadorians, meanwhile, scold Pilgrim for his foolishness as he attempts to make himself look intelligent by proclaiming to the all-seeing Tralfamadorians the danger that humanity poses to the universe.