Slaughterhouse-Five Chapter 5 Post 2 of 2

       Kurt Vonnegut as the author of Slaughterhouse-Five has done something extremely rare to see in a non-autobiographical piece: he has made himself a character in his own book. Not as the main character, Vonnegut put himself as a minor character that often finds himself in very unfavorable situations. In the later half of chapter five, Vonnegut appears, "excreting everything but his brains;" then addresses himself saying, "That was I. That was me. That was the author of this book," (Vonnegut, 125). 
      Vonnegut places himself in this book because its themes and story line share a strong connection to his life. In all the accounts of war, Vonnegut is speaking of his own experiences of war. Interestingly, Vonnegut has Billy Pilgrim be the main character of this book, while he only inserts himself in small pockets. Vonnegut was the drunken caller with the mustard gas breath and then again here in chapter five as a sickly fool in a latrine.