I've never read McCarthy's reply, if indeed he chose to validate Vonnegut's point with interaction, but here's a quote from the man who taught the book in the first place:
Quote:
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I chose the book for its immediacy, its modern style, its brevity. I believe the theme, or message of the book is a question: Why are we killing each other still? The book deals with other concerns as well. The lack of dignity and respect with which we treat each other in increasing doses. The dissatisfaction that Billy Pilgrim, the hero of the book, feels with his life of obvious material success. The emptiness of his marriage. The matter of man's own free will, that seems to be no longer functioning. The resulting apathy. It is this apathy towards an increasing state of man's inhumanity to his fellow man that the author is crying out against in protest, through Billy Pilgrim. This is a moral book. It deals with a moral question that we as humans have been trying to deal with from time immemorial. The book begs the reader to come up with a workable answer.
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-- Bruce Severy (in
response to McCarthy's decision
to burn copies of
Slaughterhouse Five)