This is the beginning of a recurrent motif of “machine imagery” throughout the novel. In general, what is the “relationship” between “man and machine” especially in war?

Question

This question os from Slaughterhouse Five By: Kurt Vonnegut

Answer 1

Hi Constance,

Throughout Slaughterhouse-Five, much like your question references, Vonnegut consistently dehumanizes other humans. So, it is possible to think about: During war, what characterizes humans as similar to machines? This is an answer that seems confusing, but is more closely related than you may think when you think about what the experience is like.

First, think about what soldiers look like. Generally, soldiers wear a uniform, and therefore, wear clothing that makes all of them appear to be similar on the surface. Often, the pervasive idea in a unit is exactly that-that the soldiers work and live and function as one single unit, rather than individual people. They are to act and move in a formation, therefore mimicking a machine with their repetitive motions as a single group. In addition, soldiers follow all orders given by their commanders and do not fight against authority. This is similar to when a human presses a button on their computer, and the machine carries out the action. This idea that humans are similar to machines in this way is meant to serve as a comparison that dehumanizes people and more clearly shows the relationship between humans and their lack of humanity in the context of war.

Of course, we know that humans are not machines. They function with their own thoughts and actions, but it doesn't mean that it is impossible to control this aspect of them similarly to a machine. In this way, Earthlings appear to be like machines, but, Vonnegut uses this to point out how unnatural and inauthentic war is to human kind, even though it has become a common aspect of the human experience. War turns humans into different beings than they are by nature, and it demonstrates the fall and erratic changes of humans.