Chapter 1
The
book is told in Vonnegut's voice; this chapter is about himself. He explains
that many details of his story set during WWII in Dresden, Germany are based on
his real experiences fighting in the war. He traveled back in 1967 with war
buddy Bernard V. O'Hare to see what the city was like after rebuilding. For
years, Vonnegut had wanted to write a novel about the firebombing of Dresden,
which he witnessed. Asked by a friend if it would be an anti-war book, he
responded that would be futile because war will always exist. After the war he
went to the University of Chicago to study anthropology and became a police
reporter on the side. Later, as a PR guy in Schenectady, NY, Vonnegut was denied
access to government files on what happened in Dresden. He visited Bernard to
reminisce, but Bernard's wife Mary worried that the book would glorify war. To
appease her, Vonnegut said he would call his book "The Children's
Crusade." He explains the jumpy nature of the book with what he told his
editor: "It is so short and jumbled and jangled, Sam, because there is
nothing intelligent to say about a massacre." After his trip to Dresden, he
thought a lot about clocks and time. This plays a big role in the plot. He ends
the first chapter by relating the biblical story of Lot's wife looking back at
the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and turning into a pillar of salt.
Vonnegut says he loves her for doing this.
