Slaughterhouse-Five: Unreliable Narrator 1 key example

The sentence is almost oxymoronic. While "more or less" does not quite contradict "all this happened" and is more of a general equivocation, the novel nevertheless begins with an undermining claim that brings the concepts of truth and reliability to the forefront. The next sentence further undermines the reliability of the narrator: Vonnegut writes, "the war parts, anyway, are pretty much true." Even here, "pretty much" undercuts the alleged truth of the war descriptions. The fact that characters in the novel sometimes question Pilgrim's sanity further evidences the unreliability of Pilgrim as protagonist. From the very beginning of the novel, the narrator is established as unreliable, which calls into question the fantastical, science fiction elements of the story. It also sets the stage for the themes of truth and witness that recur throughout the book.

The most unrealistic part of the novel—namely, the idea of existing outside of the fourth dimension that is time—is a vessel through which fundamental truths of life are revealed, from the horror of war to the universality of death. The narrator, reliable or not, writes a compelling story that illustrates truths of the human condition. In fact, perhaps it is the fictitious elements of the work that make the story so compelling.