Kurt Vonnegut
Chapter #5 (pg. 96-119)
As I continued reading chapter five they kept on describing the banquet that was offered to those just rescued by the English, among them Billy Pilgrim. He was searching for a phone to call his mother, and in the means of it his coat caught fire, an Englishmen then aware Billy of what was happening and helped him put it off. Following this the Englishmen began watching Billy and described him as “This isn’t a man. It’s a broken kite.” (pg. 97) therefore we can imagine the atrocious state in which Pilgrim must have been when he was rescued. The Englishmen then began interrogating Billy about his outfit, his boots and finally made a remark about his coat, “Jerry gave it to you?” (pg. 97) Off course that after such a comment, Billy had no idea what they were talking about, it was later which the Englishmen repeated “The Germans gave it to you?” (pg. 98) From this statement we can derive that they called the Germans, Jerry as ridicule and a form to tease them.
The banquet continued and the upcoming event was a play based on Cinderella, the most known story, but it had a twist, “The women in the play were really men, of course.” (pg. 98) After reading this I was a little confused, how could it be so obvious that the women roles would be played by men? Was it something based on the time period in which the story took place? Then I realized this was all occurring in the middle of war, therefore no women were present since they didn’t contribute and fight, therefore I imagine that is the reason why men played the female role. They then described the play, Billy was laughing hysterically, and when the clock stroke midnight Cinderella said: “Goodness me, the clock has struck- Alackday, and fuck my luck.” (pg. 98) I was appalled at how such a lovely and romantic story made for children could be modified into something so obscene and rude. Off course I can understand that it was created to entertain soldiers that enjoyed adult humor instead of a princess fairytale, but it came into shock the way in which they amused themselves.
While the play took place “Billy found the couplet so comical that he not only laughed-he shrieked.” (pg. 98) Consequently he was taken out of the room and moved out into a hospital where he was injected morphine and left to be watched by another person. “This volunteer was Edgar Derby, the high school teacher who would be shot to death in Dresden. So it goes.” (pg. 98-99) When I read this I couldn’t imagine how you could deal with knowing somebody would die, and that you couldn’t do anything about it, just lie useless while he took care of you and embrace it as an event that is destined to be and thus will happen.
Soon the morphine became effective and Billy fell into a deep sleep in which he dreamed about giraffes in a garden. “The giraffes were following gravel paths, were pausing to munch sugar pears from treetops. Billy was a giraffe too. He ate a pear. It was a hard one. It fought back against his grinding teeth. It snapped in juicy protest.” (pg. 99) The dream then continued telling us how the other giraffes embraced him and came up to kiss him, both of them being female giraffes. What can this dream mean? Clearly it shows symbolism, but what’s its point? How does it relate to Billy’s life?
While the dream continued Billy traveled in time to a veteran hospital where he laid, his head covered by a blanket, it was three years after the war. In the hospital they believed he was going crazy, not because of the war but due to the fact that “…his father had thrown him into the deep end of the Y.M.C.A. swimming pool when he was a little boy, and had then taken him to the rim of the Grand Canyon.” (pg. 100) I immediately related this to a theory in which I have always believed in, it consist that every little thing you go through, or event that happens to you somehow will affect your future. For instance, for the fact that my parents divorced when I was young may somehow affect my future relationships.
I later came upon a statement that has been constantly repeated through the novel and that has called my attention, this time it was applied to an inanimate object, contrary to before. As I have mentioned the narrator notes down “So it goes.” Every time he mentions the death of somebody, what is bizarre is that this time he mentions it when something dies: “There was a still life on Billy’s bedside table- two pills, an ashtray with three lipstick stained cigarettes in it, one cigarette still burning, and a glass of water. The water was dead. So it goes.” (pg. 101) I found it weird that he stated his common phrase even when the point that was dying was an inanimate object. I also noticed how the author used personification (giving human characteristics to an inanimate object) both to the water, air and then to the bubbles as he affirms “Air was trying to get out of that dead water. Bubbles were clinging to the walls of the glass, too weak to climb out.” (pg. 101)
Billy then continues traveling in time between the veteran hospital where he lies next to Eliot Rosewater (becomes favorite writer), to the Germany hospital, and to his wife Valencia until he time travels to the Tralfamdores were they discuss war, the universe, different sexes and life in general. The Tralfamdores mention “That’s one thing Earthlings might learn to do, if they tried hard enough: Ignore the awful times, and concentrate on the good ones.” (pg. 117) This statement called my attention because I surely agree with the statement, but as it said its something the human race isn’t capable off. We often think of our mistakes and about the negative aspects of our life and tend to leave forgotten what is really important which are the positive pieces.
After listening to Kurt Vonnegut’s interview I had a completely different perspective to the novel that I had before hand. What I first related was based on religion; Kurt mentions that being atheist had run in his family for generations and that though he respects the bible and considers it literally outstanding he is completely against gods laws. I right away thought about the past chapters in which Adam and Eve were mentioned and how the author constantly mocked Christianity, for instance “…conspired biologically to produce two perfect people named Adam and Eve, he supposes.” (pg. 75)
In the interview he also talked about his books being banned and the sexual content they contained, but as he said “you could learn more about sex talking to a fourteen year old boy about sex for 5 minutes than by reading all my books” (Kurt Vonnegut) I completely agree, even though he talks about sexual positions, extraterrestrial apparitions and war, his books have very mild content. The interview also made me realize that Kurt Vonnegut was a German-American that was a prisoner of war, thus his person relates greatly with the character of Slaughterhouse- Five meaning that everything he writes about related to war was something he really went through.
The banquet continued and the upcoming event was a play based on Cinderella, the most known story, but it had a twist, “The women in the play were really men, of course.” (pg. 98) After reading this I was a little confused, how could it be so obvious that the women roles would be played by men? Was it something based on the time period in which the story took place? Then I realized this was all occurring in the middle of war, therefore no women were present since they didn’t contribute and fight, therefore I imagine that is the reason why men played the female role. They then described the play, Billy was laughing hysterically, and when the clock stroke midnight Cinderella said: “Goodness me, the clock has struck- Alackday, and fuck my luck.” (pg. 98) I was appalled at how such a lovely and romantic story made for children could be modified into something so obscene and rude. Off course I can understand that it was created to entertain soldiers that enjoyed adult humor instead of a princess fairytale, but it came into shock the way in which they amused themselves.
While the play took place “Billy found the couplet so comical that he not only laughed-he shrieked.” (pg. 98) Consequently he was taken out of the room and moved out into a hospital where he was injected morphine and left to be watched by another person. “This volunteer was Edgar Derby, the high school teacher who would be shot to death in Dresden. So it goes.” (pg. 98-99) When I read this I couldn’t imagine how you could deal with knowing somebody would die, and that you couldn’t do anything about it, just lie useless while he took care of you and embrace it as an event that is destined to be and thus will happen.
Soon the morphine became effective and Billy fell into a deep sleep in which he dreamed about giraffes in a garden. “The giraffes were following gravel paths, were pausing to munch sugar pears from treetops. Billy was a giraffe too. He ate a pear. It was a hard one. It fought back against his grinding teeth. It snapped in juicy protest.” (pg. 99) The dream then continued telling us how the other giraffes embraced him and came up to kiss him, both of them being female giraffes. What can this dream mean? Clearly it shows symbolism, but what’s its point? How does it relate to Billy’s life?
While the dream continued Billy traveled in time to a veteran hospital where he laid, his head covered by a blanket, it was three years after the war. In the hospital they believed he was going crazy, not because of the war but due to the fact that “…his father had thrown him into the deep end of the Y.M.C.A. swimming pool when he was a little boy, and had then taken him to the rim of the Grand Canyon.” (pg. 100) I immediately related this to a theory in which I have always believed in, it consist that every little thing you go through, or event that happens to you somehow will affect your future. For instance, for the fact that my parents divorced when I was young may somehow affect my future relationships.
I later came upon a statement that has been constantly repeated through the novel and that has called my attention, this time it was applied to an inanimate object, contrary to before. As I have mentioned the narrator notes down “So it goes.” Every time he mentions the death of somebody, what is bizarre is that this time he mentions it when something dies: “There was a still life on Billy’s bedside table- two pills, an ashtray with three lipstick stained cigarettes in it, one cigarette still burning, and a glass of water. The water was dead. So it goes.” (pg. 101) I found it weird that he stated his common phrase even when the point that was dying was an inanimate object. I also noticed how the author used personification (giving human characteristics to an inanimate object) both to the water, air and then to the bubbles as he affirms “Air was trying to get out of that dead water. Bubbles were clinging to the walls of the glass, too weak to climb out.” (pg. 101)
Billy then continues traveling in time between the veteran hospital where he lies next to Eliot Rosewater (becomes favorite writer), to the Germany hospital, and to his wife Valencia until he time travels to the Tralfamdores were they discuss war, the universe, different sexes and life in general. The Tralfamdores mention “That’s one thing Earthlings might learn to do, if they tried hard enough: Ignore the awful times, and concentrate on the good ones.” (pg. 117) This statement called my attention because I surely agree with the statement, but as it said its something the human race isn’t capable off. We often think of our mistakes and about the negative aspects of our life and tend to leave forgotten what is really important which are the positive pieces.
After listening to Kurt Vonnegut’s interview I had a completely different perspective to the novel that I had before hand. What I first related was based on religion; Kurt mentions that being atheist had run in his family for generations and that though he respects the bible and considers it literally outstanding he is completely against gods laws. I right away thought about the past chapters in which Adam and Eve were mentioned and how the author constantly mocked Christianity, for instance “…conspired biologically to produce two perfect people named Adam and Eve, he supposes.” (pg. 75)
In the interview he also talked about his books being banned and the sexual content they contained, but as he said “you could learn more about sex talking to a fourteen year old boy about sex for 5 minutes than by reading all my books” (Kurt Vonnegut) I completely agree, even though he talks about sexual positions, extraterrestrial apparitions and war, his books have very mild content. The interview also made me realize that Kurt Vonnegut was a German-American that was a prisoner of war, thus his person relates greatly with the character of Slaughterhouse- Five meaning that everything he writes about related to war was something he really went through.
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