Slaughter House-Five
Kurt Vonnegut
Chapter 3 (pg. 52-71)
When I first began reading the third chapter I came upon a couple of phrases that reminded me of a trait which we constantly approximate, being it how appearances deceive. On the novel it is first said that Billy and Ronald are surrounded by a group of Germans with their police dogs which tend to be very aggressive and ferocious, but as they advance closer to them, both characters realize it was just a female German shepherd. “She was shivering. Her tail was between her legs. She had been borrowed that morning from a farmer. She had never been to war before. She had no idea what game was being played. Her name was Princess.” (pg. 52) This just comes to show how misleading appearances can be, causing us to believe one thing, when the reality can be the complete opposite, something that constantly happens in every day life, when believing to know someone, judging them by how they look like, and when actually getting to know them having complete contrary results of what that person is really like, to what you believed he/she was.
As I continued reading there was a specific wording that caught my eye: “...Billy stared into the patina of the corporal’s boot, saw Adam and Eve in the golden depths. They were naked. They were so innocent, so vulnerable, so eager to behave decently.” (pg. 53) This was so ironic and unexpected, how was it possible that they were referring to something so pure and respectful and relating it to the boots of a war commander, boots that had been taken from a dead Hungarian. It also surprised me when Billy referred to a German fifteen year old boy as “a blond angel”, “as beautiful as Eve” and as “the heavenly androgyne.”(pg. 53) Can this mean something? Is there a specific meaning to it?
I proceeded with my lecture and read about how Billy and Ronald were searched and how their belongings were taken from them. “Then he made Weary sit down in the snow and take off his combat boots, which he gave to the beautiful boy.” (pg. 55) “The corporal reached into Wearys gaping bosom as though he meant to tear out his pounding heart, but he brought out Wearys bulletproof Bible instead.” (pg. 54) In this moment I felt an extreme invasion of privacy, neither Billy nor Ronald were being respected. Their possessions were being taken away, and inclusively they were being made fun off and taken advantaged off. They were left with nothing, but a long journey to walk through “without decent military footwear.” (pg. 55) Constantly this happens in ordinary live when we come across manipulative and inconsiderate people that step over others and use others in order to get what benefits them and only them.
Through out chapter three I came upon various experiences that Billy went through, that after interpreting them, I could relate to things that happen to me or that I see reflected in other people. Among them the ounce mentioned above and several others including his lack of interest in life. “Billy had a framed prayer on his office wall which expressed his method for keeping going, even though he was unenthusiastic about living.” (pg.60) he didn’t live life to its fullest, and awaited for things to happen to him, taking no action in what he truly believed, for instance when the president of the Lions Club talks about bombing Vietnam, even though he already had seen all the suffering it had created, he didn’t speak up about it. The narrator also constantly demonstrates the lack of interest when constantly ending his stories with a simple “So it goes,” for instance “They were irregulars, armed and clothed fragmentarily with junk taken from real soldiers who were newly dead. So it goes.” (pg. 52) He does not finish what he was saying, he just cuts us off.
The whole chapter reminded me of a very curious thing that rarely happens to some of us: Déjà vu, this is when you’re living a moment and somehow remember it as it already happened. When thinking about this I questioned Billy’s theory that moments are always happening, in no specific chronological order, and no determined time. How is it possible that we feel like we have already lived a moment we are presently living. Will Billy be able to change his future, by interfering in his present life? (As in the movie Paycheck) Or will he waste away this characteristic he possesses and dedicate his life to letting moments pass by and doing nothing about them?
Kurt Vonnegut
Chapter 3 (pg. 52-71)
When I first began reading the third chapter I came upon a couple of phrases that reminded me of a trait which we constantly approximate, being it how appearances deceive. On the novel it is first said that Billy and Ronald are surrounded by a group of Germans with their police dogs which tend to be very aggressive and ferocious, but as they advance closer to them, both characters realize it was just a female German shepherd. “She was shivering. Her tail was between her legs. She had been borrowed that morning from a farmer. She had never been to war before. She had no idea what game was being played. Her name was Princess.” (pg. 52) This just comes to show how misleading appearances can be, causing us to believe one thing, when the reality can be the complete opposite, something that constantly happens in every day life, when believing to know someone, judging them by how they look like, and when actually getting to know them having complete contrary results of what that person is really like, to what you believed he/she was.
As I continued reading there was a specific wording that caught my eye: “...Billy stared into the patina of the corporal’s boot, saw Adam and Eve in the golden depths. They were naked. They were so innocent, so vulnerable, so eager to behave decently.” (pg. 53) This was so ironic and unexpected, how was it possible that they were referring to something so pure and respectful and relating it to the boots of a war commander, boots that had been taken from a dead Hungarian. It also surprised me when Billy referred to a German fifteen year old boy as “a blond angel”, “as beautiful as Eve” and as “the heavenly androgyne.”(pg. 53) Can this mean something? Is there a specific meaning to it?
I proceeded with my lecture and read about how Billy and Ronald were searched and how their belongings were taken from them. “Then he made Weary sit down in the snow and take off his combat boots, which he gave to the beautiful boy.” (pg. 55) “The corporal reached into Wearys gaping bosom as though he meant to tear out his pounding heart, but he brought out Wearys bulletproof Bible instead.” (pg. 54) In this moment I felt an extreme invasion of privacy, neither Billy nor Ronald were being respected. Their possessions were being taken away, and inclusively they were being made fun off and taken advantaged off. They were left with nothing, but a long journey to walk through “without decent military footwear.” (pg. 55) Constantly this happens in ordinary live when we come across manipulative and inconsiderate people that step over others and use others in order to get what benefits them and only them.
Through out chapter three I came upon various experiences that Billy went through, that after interpreting them, I could relate to things that happen to me or that I see reflected in other people. Among them the ounce mentioned above and several others including his lack of interest in life. “Billy had a framed prayer on his office wall which expressed his method for keeping going, even though he was unenthusiastic about living.” (pg.60) he didn’t live life to its fullest, and awaited for things to happen to him, taking no action in what he truly believed, for instance when the president of the Lions Club talks about bombing Vietnam, even though he already had seen all the suffering it had created, he didn’t speak up about it. The narrator also constantly demonstrates the lack of interest when constantly ending his stories with a simple “So it goes,” for instance “They were irregulars, armed and clothed fragmentarily with junk taken from real soldiers who were newly dead. So it goes.” (pg. 52) He does not finish what he was saying, he just cuts us off.
The whole chapter reminded me of a very curious thing that rarely happens to some of us: Déjà vu, this is when you’re living a moment and somehow remember it as it already happened. When thinking about this I questioned Billy’s theory that moments are always happening, in no specific chronological order, and no determined time. How is it possible that we feel like we have already lived a moment we are presently living. Will Billy be able to change his future, by interfering in his present life? (As in the movie Paycheck) Or will he waste away this characteristic he possesses and dedicate his life to letting moments pass by and doing nothing about them?
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