Determinism and War

“The American was astonished. He stood up shakily, spitting up blood. He’d had two teeth knocked out. He meant no harm by what he’d said, evidently, he had no idea that the guard would hear and understand.

‘Why me?’ he asked the guard.

The guard shoved him back into ranks. ‘Vy you? Vy anybody?’ he said” (116)

The simple response that the German Soldier gives to the American POW conveys both the idea of determinism and that war is inevitable and stupid. The German does not necessarily know why he wanted to hit the POW he just knows that the American is his enemy and should be disrespected in any way, shape or form. The German soldier also understands that he could have hit any other POW but, he happened to hit the man who talked. This encapsulates the idea that humans do not have free will and we are governed by predetermined actions. The beating also goes hand in hand with the repetition of “so it goes” to represent that we have choice in life and everything is predetermined. Vonnegut is also able to show the pointlessness of war by depicting the senseless beating of the prisoner. There was no reason for the German to beat him, he just did it because it was determined that he was his enemy. The beating was pointless, just like war is pointless from a moral and ethical standpoint.

If war is inevitable then why should their be anti-war books or ideas, shouldn’t we just accept that war happens? What is the point of existing if our lives are predetermined?