Slaughterhuse-Five- Religious References

"If you think that death is a terrible thing, then you have not understood a word I've said." (142)

So, I may be taking a long shot here, but I've noticed a few similarites between Billy Pilgrim and Jesus Christ. Whether intentional or not, the author makes several references to Catholicism that I perceived as comparing the two. First, shown in the quote, Billy is urging the people he's speaking to to not view death as a terrible thing. This is much like Jesus, who teaches us that heaven, a place of joy and greatness, awaits after death. So both focus on the positive aspects of life since death is not lasting. Another part of that example that could be significant is that Billy, making a speech at a baseball field, is foretelling his death, his murder actually, concocted by Paul Lazzaro, which would be Judas.

Secondly, a quote from pg. 197 says, "Billy cried very little, though he often saw things worth crying about, and in that respect, at least, he resembled the Christ...." I must say I found it extremely ironic that Billy was crying over horses and not about any number of the gruesome stories he told in the novel. The example here is that Jesus did not cry at birth, which babies usually do. I'm not sure why that's significant, but it's a similarity between the two.

Lastly, even Billy's physical appearance, obviously awkward, is similar to that of Jesus' demeanor. He was an awkward match for war since he did not want to fight, nor was he ready to do it. Jesus shares the same kind quality. That, combined with the fact that Billy keeps wearing an "azure toga and silver shoes" (196) which (this is reeeeally a stretch) almost portrays him as a royal figure, leading the other soldiers, giving another comparison of Pilgrim and the Prince of Peace.

Slaughterhouse-Five- 1986 Prompt

"I, Billy Pilgrim, the tape begins, will die, have died, and always will die on February thirteenth, 1976." (pg. 141)

The 1986 prompt roughly says, "choose a novel an show how the author's manipulation of time contributes to the effectiveness of the work as a whole." Considering Slaughterhouse-Five is nothing but time travel, I thought this prompt was perfect. First, Billy's time-travel, real or fictional, adds an interesting perspective to the story. It allows the reader to be omniscient, unlike the characters. It also gives the reader many different viewpoints of Billy's life. I'm not sure what significance this has on plot, since it was hard to discover exactly what the plot was, thanks to the jumbled order of events. One thing that contributes to the effectiveness, though, is that it portrays Billy as an all-knowing character, automatically elevating his status in the readers' eyes. On the other hand, Billy's reputation is constantly diminished by his army buddies. Another thing it does is create suspense since the reader knows what events are upcoming, but they don't know the circumstances. So I'm not really sure how manipulation of plot helps the effectiveness of the work, but it certainly makes for an interesting story.

Slaughterhouse-Five- Theme

"The window reflected the news. It was about power and sports and anger and death." (pg. 200)

I think this quote perfectly sums up the theme of the novel, that modern society trivializes and glorifies blood and war. I think the author was particularly upset that we are not told accurate information, and the information that we are told is often in order for someone to make a profit. Towards the end of the book, Billy sees a shop advertising things about vicious competition, greed, and death. This obvious display of desensitization shows the reader that the author feels that war is not portrayed as the grim, personal "massacre" it is.

I know several authors have also written about this flaw in society. Some comment on it while others try and inspire a change. So far, similar works are "The Lottery," the poem we read early on this year, and probably a very popular example, the "Hunger Games" trilogy. Having only read the first one, I can still say they are based on a competition of ill-equipped soldiers (sort of like Billy) who fight to the death for no reason but to survive. This savage competition mirrors the unhealthy attitude of our media seen in Vonnegut's novel: glorifying war on TV, in video games, or movies.


May the odds be ever in your favor. And if they're not, so it goes.

                         

Slaughterhouse-Five- Time-Travel/Reality?

"It was about an Earthling man and woman who were kidnapped by extra-terrestrials. They were put on display in a zoo on a planet called Zircon212." (pg. 201)

This blog is mainly aimed towards clearing up the ending of the book. The quote, the plot from one of Trout's books, describes what Billy says he experiences throughout this book. My question is: which book is true? I'm assuming they didn't have the same story because that's just too much of a coincidence. So, was the time-travel throughout the novel just Billy experiencing memories? Or was it just hallucinations caused by the plane crash in Vermont? Either way, I'm still not set on the whole time-travel concept. I think it would be a really interesting concept to go back to any moment and be able to focus on the good instead of the bad. I also think that the Tralfamadorians' view of death as powerless is a good way to look at things. If death were momentary, no one would worry about death because they could always choose to redirect their thoughts. Or, that would give people an excuse to not fear consequences of their actions. As of now, I still don't understand the concept- if others were involved, how long it lasted, etc. I guess I'll just have to wait to be abducted by aliens.

Slaughterhouse-Five- Repetition

"There wasn't a sound inside the emaciated chest cavity. The Son of God was dead as a doornail. So it goes." (pg.203)

Probably the biggest example of repetition in this book is "So it goes." This phrase, inspired by the Tralfamadorians, sums up Billy's adopted view that since there is no time, death is only a momentary instance. And since this is the case, death is rendered powerless in this book. I'm not sure if that adds or detracts from the anti-war theme. On one hand, it shows that people today often lessen the impact of death with the argument that it occurs so often. On the other hand, it is saying that death is not a big deal, so this could work for both sides of the war argument.

Anyhoo, I picked this quote because it's a really interesting thought. When reading the book and seeing all of the "so it goes" basically every other page, I could see how death was desensitizing people, the exact point of the author. However, this scenario from Trout's book puts into perspective just how bluntk, redundant, and plain Vonnegut portrays death. So the author makes his argument doubly effective when he gives the ultimate example of decency and kindness dying as well as using these phrases to reinforce war's causing death to be mundane.

Slaughterhouse-Five

Kurt Vonnegut is almost as blunt as Glozell. Enjoy.

Slaughterhouse-Five- Opinion #2/ Tone

"A whole city gets burned down, and thousands and thousands of people are killed. And then this one American foot soldier is arrested in the ruins for taking a teapot. And he's given a regular trial, and then he's shot by a firing squad." (pg. 5)

This quote from early on in the novel is a perfect example of why I like this book. It's straight-forward, grim but sickeningly captivating, and easy to understand. As opposed to other works that practically write in another language, this novel is actually believable. The tone is one of the best parts about this novel. The author's participation in the military gives him an obvious bias but he makes his point clearly: war is massacre. The tone, therefor, comes from his negative personal experiences and his opinions on how to avoid future ones. The tone is also laced with dark humor and a bit of irony to the point where it's hard to tell which it is. For example, the author tells this story, a gruesome one at that, as a fictional one he will put in his book. Since it's so specific, I'm not sure if it was a story of his life or about one of his friends or simply false. Any way you slice it, Vonnegut's blunt, sarcastic, and eerie tone makes for a grim but believable and intriguing story.