“Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war” (John Adams)In Vonnegut's science fiction and dystopian novel Cat's Cradle, the main character, John, demonstrates his growth personal and from that, his enlightened attitude towards the needless horrors created by war. At the beginning of the novel, John sets out to discover and gather information about what people's lives were like on the day the atomic bomb fell. Along his path of discovery he meets the Hoenikker family, of which Felix was the patriarch and creator of the elusive and dangerous Ice-Nine material. John then becomes distracted from his initial research and becomes infatuated with his quest for more knowledge about Ice-Nine. From there, he encounters other Hoenikker children, as well as the Bokonon people and their peculiar faith. Once John is on the island, he learns of Ice-Nine's disastrous potential and, at the end of the novel, witnesses its power as it kills virtually the entire human race. At the end of the novel, John recognizes what his search for the ultimate truth has led him to (destruction of humanity) and also sees the cruel, blind, and horrible nature of war (ice-nine/weapons of mass destruction). Vonnegut's next book, Slaughterhouse-Five, another science fiction novel written just a few years later, details the life of Billy Pilgrim, a foolish, clumsy, incompetent boy whose life never seems to go as he expects. When Billy was young, against his will, he was drafted to fight against the Germans in World War II. Like most men at war, Billy experiences horrific sights on and off the battlefield. As a result he was severely traumatized for the rest of his life because of this. Then, halfway through the paper... innings and the end of almost every day of his childhood. Billy had an extremely creepy crucifix hanging on the wall of his bedroom in Ilium. A military surgeon would have admired the clinical fidelity of the artist's rendering of all of Christ's wounds: the spear wound, the thorn wounds, the holes made by the iron spikes. Billy's Christ died horribly. It was pitiful. That's how it goes. (Vonnegut 48)” Vonnegut claims that Billy's religion, contrary to popular belief that it appeases and makes people feel better, is actually harmful because of the way it glorifies suffering through the crucifixion of the central figure. From this the reader can deduce that Vonnegut essentially thinks that everything that involves suffering is destined, in the end, only to hurt people. Billy will therefore not be helped by Christianity but will ultimately be harmed, according to Vonnegut.