The fact that the war was mostly fought by young people became apparent in Chapter 3. The use of the word "children" from the title, Slaughterhouse Five or The Children's Crusade to Wild Bob's final address to his regiment, demonstrate the idea that the was was being fought by foolish young men rather than heroic men.
In chapter 3, we see the true hurt and loss of children when Wild Bob is talking to Billy, "'You one of my boys?' This was a man who had lost an entire regiment, about forty-five hundred men- a lot of them children, actually" (66). Wild Bob was lost and felt alone without any of the young boys from his regiment. Later in chapter 3, Billy notices how, "... the privates on Billy's car were very young- at the end of childhood" (68). It's ironic that Billy notes that they are at the end of childhood when he is not far from childhood himself.
Instead of men fighting the war, many children took their place on the battlefield. Why did so many children took part in the war and what significance do the children have in the novel?
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