Slaughterhouse-Five

Periods of war no doubt affect society and its individuals. Too often people focus on the positive sides of war and glorify it. In Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut carefully strives for the opposite. His protagonist, Billy, is a weak and unheroic victim who is haunted by his experience at the Dresden massacre. He (presumably) imagines becoming "unstuck" in time, uncontrollably traveling to various parts of his life, and being abducted by and learning the ideas of the Tralfamadorians. Yet as the novel progresses, it gradually becomes clear that Billy's memories from the massacre have haunted him and driven him mad. A generation of war has caused Billy to struggle and eventually simply close his eyes to avoid looking at his war hero son.

Meanwhile, numerous characters in the novel attempt to be war heroes, but Vonnegut slams each of them down. They all wish to maintain dignity and be seen positively by society. Both Weary and Wild Bob dream of a respected/heroic status after the war, yet both die of illness, not even in glorified battle. The Englishmen prisoners of war, Billy's son, and Rumfoord are viewed as war heroes by society, yet Vonnegut shows his readers the unheroic side of each of those characters. Society shaped these characters into something they were not.

Beloved

Does a generation represent its people, or do people represent their generation? I would argue that it isn't just one or the other but, rather, a sort of mutual relationship between the two. In Beloved, however, Toni Morrison emphasizes the latter in order to illustrate true freedom.

In the novel, Beloved is born into slavery while Denver is born "free." As a result, Beloved represents a generation of slavery while Denver represents one of newly-found freedom. For the majority of the novel, both Beloved and Denver (as well as the other characters) struggle with issues of possession, the past, and identity. Beloved views herself as linked to Sethe and tries to claim/possess Sethe completely. She also cannot forgive Sethe and seek vengeance for her murder. Meanwhile, Denver struggles with being an individual and has also dealt with fear for the majority of her life.

Unlike Beloved, however, Denver eventually becomes a strong, independent woman after she finally leaves 124 by herself for the first time in years. Reflective of her generation, Beloved remains captive to her past and almost completely loses her identity. Denver represents her generation of new, achieved freedom by struggling but ultimately reaching independence.

The Stranger

With Albert Camus' The Stranger, I have my first example of a character who seems to be free of society's vast influence. Meursault, the novel's protagonist, is an amoral character who is not concerned with societal values and ideas, such as love ("it didn't matter") and God ("it seemed unimportant"; "it didn't interest me"). Many of Meursault's actions are simply based on the fact that there was no reason not to do them.

Through his recognition of the indifference of the universe and the inevitability of death, Meursault effectively triumphs society. He defies its attempts to reason through people's actions, as so many of the characters did during his trial. He defies its hope, which tortured him and made him restless in his prison cell after he received his death sentence. He defies its system of justice, which attempted to make him succumb, feel remorse, and recognize the murder as wrong. Meursault recognizes how society shapes people and their standards and thus happily remains an outsider, accepting his mutual indifference with the world.