Many classic novels have been subject to criticism and censorship for their violent or graphic content. The celebrated anti-war novel Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut is no exception. In Slaughterhouse Five, there are many instances where Vonnegut describes scenes of violence very explicitly and graphically; as a result, the novel is often present on banned-book lists. Although some may argue that these displays of graphic violence and human cruelty are unnecessary and too vulgar, Vonnegut incorporates these in a manner that helps send a message against war and violence. When Vonnegut uses scenes with graphic violence, he is utilizing the trick of irony to help perpetuate his pacifist statement.
	When reading Slaughterhouse Five, it is important to remember that Vonnegut himself experienced much of what Billy Pilgrim goes through in the story. He experienced the horrors of World War II and was present at the infamous bombing of Dresden. Through the incorporation of his own violent experiences in the war, he is able to recount them and use them as examples of what humans should not resort to. One example of this is how Vonnegut describes the city of Dresden as the “loveliest city that the Americans had ever seen” and “Oz,” then goes on to intricately describe its state after it had been bombed. By graphically describing the bombing of Dresden, he invokes sympathy and resentment towards the horrific act. Another instance of this is how Edgar Derby’s death is described – “…that good body of his would be filled with holes by a firing squad in Dresden. So it goes.” This line may seem wantonly graphic; however, with previous descriptions of Edgar Derby as an honest and upstanding man, it is another ironic statement that perpetuates Vonnegut’s pacifist views. War is the reason that a good man like Edgar Derby was killed, and by describing his death in a frank and casually graphic way such as that, Vonnegut again solicits the mature readers’ understanding that it is to be received as anti-war instead of unnecessarily graphic.
	Slaughterhouse Five is a book that has been described as “a funny book at which you are not permitted to laugh…a sad book without tears.” With this in mind, it is easier to understand why Vonnegut put some of the absurdly violent and cruel scenes in the story. Perhaps the most infamous of these is Paul Lazzaro’s account of how he killed a dog for biting him. Billy Pilgrim’s disinterested reaction to the graphic story is a sign that Vonnegut had intended the scene to be slightly humorous through its absurdity. Vonnegut’s delineation of Lazzaro’s eccentric and ludicrous character through his violent tendencies create such an absurd character that readers cannot help but to dismiss the seriousness and take it as a joke. The ability of Vonnegut to make us laugh in spite of the horror is like a coping method that parallels the effect of the horrors of war on Billy. In his later life, the terrors of the bombing of Dresden and WWII plague his life and his coping method is Tralfamadore. Vonnegut inserts blackly humorous bits of violence to amuse readers and at the same time show how plainly ridiculous some aspects of war and violence are. When Billy is on the boxcar to Dresden, he coughs and at the same time “shits thin gruel,” and Vonnegut goes on to describe why this is possible with the Third Law of Motion. This is another example of how Vonnegut shows the absurdities of war; moreover, these small anecdotes make readers laugh not out of humor, but out of the plain senselessness of war.
	Kurt Vonnegut’s bold descriptions of violence and human cruelty are also used to provide readers with the truth. When Billy is in the hospital listening to Professor Rumfoord and Lily talk about Dresden, Vonnegut adds in the anecdote that the bombing of Dresden was not well-known until 23 years after the war, and that nearly double the amount of people died at Dresden than at Hiroshima. He also adds in the story of him writing to the U.S. military about Dresden, and receiving a statement that said no information was to be released. Revealing to readers that the horrific truth about Dresden was kept under veil shows Vonnegut’s contempt for censorship and sugarcoating. This is also exemplified by Vonnegut’s chosen alternate title for Slaughterhouse Five, which is The Children’s Crusade. There were no “soldiers” fighting in World War II, just rookies like Billy Pilgrim who had no idea what the horrors of war were. Vonnegut disliked the glamorization of war and violence; likewise, he compared soldiers in war to the Children’s Crusade, in which children were recruited by monks to fight in armies. In addition, Vonnegut brashly reveals that the Nazis used human facts to make candles. This gruesome verity is atrocity that Vonnegut revealed to show readers the ruthlessness of war.
	 There is no doubt that Slaughterhouse Five contains numerous bits of graphic violence; however, each and every seemingly nonsensically violent scene that Kurt Vonnegut uses in his story contributes to the main message, which is anti-war. He constantly re-visits the absurdities and atrocities of war in order to show readers how aimless war is.  When he describes the tragedies of war explicitly and graphically, keen readers can interpret the scenes as what the human race should not be doing. There are also many scenes that can make one laugh at how ridiculous war is. Finally, he illustrates graphic truths about his experiences in war so readers are able to know what war really is, instead of being fed censored and sugarcoated versions. Kurt Vonnegut’s mastery of irony in Slaughterhouse Five, as shown through the use of forthright violence in an anti-war book, allows one to better understand and feel the resonant message that his masterpiece of a novel delivers.