"Slaughterhouse-Five," by Kurt Vonnegut features Billy Pilgrim. Pilgrim is a war veteran plagued with the feeling of need to write a book documenting his time in the war. The novel deals with Pilgrim contacting his war veteran buddy in order to remember the stories that were so important for him to write about. In addition to finding his friend, he has encounters with an alien race that Billy calls the Tralfamadorians. These aliens did not allow Billy to become "unstuck in time,  (23), but rather showed him why it was happening and the benefits it could provide. Though the novel is nonlinear in its fashion, it still tells a story about life after loss that can be followed easily. With Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut tells the readers that hope after loss does exist. On the very first page, Vonnegut addresses communism in Dresden through th eyes of a cab driver. Billy and his friend, O'Hare, go back to Dresden to recall their war stories. They meet a cab driver who has experienced a loss “ a loss of democracy. In communist Dresden, "it was terrible at first, because everybody had to work so hard, and because there wasn't much shelter or food or clothing. But things were much better now,  said the cab driver to Billy and O'Hare, (1). For the cab driver, communism was a loss. Not only a loss of freedoms he had before communism came to Dresden, but also a loss of his mother, who "was incinerated in the Dresden fire-storm. But things were much better now. He acquired a nice apartment in Dresden and his daughter was receiving a wonderful schooling. The events that he describes are filled with current happiness. Vonnegut makes a point that from the cab driver's losses came gains he could not have appreciated without the hurt of communism. Billy Pilgrim understands that the war happened without a doubt, but he also understands that it did not ruin the rest of his life. Billy explains the process of returning prisoners of war to their home country as an exchange of "one for one,  (6). In this exchange and on the way back to a safe place, Billy tells that most of the men who were in war brought back souvenirs with them, (6). Souvenirs that are of worth, such as gold items, can bring wealth to the men who possess them when the men finally get home from the war. From the loss of friend's lives such as in war, the men experience a gain, such as a monetary gain with the souvenirs. Another positive thing that Billy experienced after he was given back to the American side of the war was exhibited in the description of the food intake. "We were fed chocolate malted milkshakes and other rich foods until we were all covered with baby fat,  (7). The use the word "rich  leads readers to believe that this is a positive thing in contrast to the acts of war the men may have experienced. B