Slaughter-House Five IRONY

In Slaughterhouse five, Vonnegut uses his literary expertise to show that the dominant literary element is irony. I think Kurt Vonnegut used irony to not only make the story much more interesting, but also to show the true meanings of things without directly talking about it. For the whole book, he used twists and turns to make you think about what was really going on. Although it got a little confusing, Kurt did get his point across by the end of the book. And since he did keep me thinking from start to end, the main topic came out much clearer.

A strong example of irony I found was in the final chapter, at the very end.It is when the bird says 'poo-tee-weet?'. I find that very ironic because as an antiwar book, you would imagine the ending would send a huge blow against war and everything about it. But when you expect that big hit, it's just a little bird saying 'poo-tee-weet?'. What I think Vonnegut was trying to show was that poo-tee-weet and war both have one thing in common. Neither of them makes sense. Choosing this ending is probably the best way Vonnegut could end a antiwar novel because once you have finished, the meaning will forever be with you.