"Billy and the rest wandered out onto the shady street. The trees were leafing out. There was nothing going on out there, no traffic of any kind. There was only one vehicle, an abandoned wagon drawn by two horses. The wagon was green and coffin-shaped. Birds were talking. One bird said to Billy Pilgrim, 'Poo-tee-weet?' "
~ Slaughterhouse-Five, page 215
Okay, time for an overall blog about Slaughterhouse-Five.
I really liked the book. It was very interesting - I've never read a book that combined time travel, war, and alien abduction - and it wasn't tedious to read. I really found myself enjoying it throughout even though we were supposed to analyze it. The structure was frustrating at times, especially in the beginning when it was hard to grasp the order and concepts, but it really added some unique qualities to the novel. I'm gonna be honest though, I still don't really know what the plot was; it seemed to be more of a memoir than a book with a clear purpose and climax.
I think that was what I struggled with the most while reading - it didn't seem like there was any point to the book. I mean, it was entertaining, but what was changed or achieved in the end? I don't think I've ever read something where the main character didn't want to attain something or fix a problem. It was just... different.
The ending also particularly frustrated me. There's a lot of action and a lot of things we ascertain from the bombing of Dresden in the last two chapters - and then it just ends? What the heck?? I guess that follows the structure of the book though; it's choppy and sporadic. I just thought there may be an "aha" moment at the end where everything clicked and made sense. That dissatisfaction and lack of resolution is really frustrating. But then again, what was there to resolve? I don't know.
Well, that was a pretty good book. Goodbye, blog readers! Enjoy your summer and have a lovely life hereafter.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Say I'm A Bird... (Repetition) - Novel Blog 9 (Slaughterhouse-Five)
"Birds were talking. One bird said to Billy Pilgrim, "Poo-tee-weet?"
~ Slaughterhouse-Five, page 215
This reminded me of another lovely book I read a couple years ago - The Notebook!
So both of these books contain a technique that I find particularly effective. Both use the repetition of a phrase or moment in the novel (repeated as the last line in the book) to convey some sort of message.
In Slaughterhouse-Five, the line "poo-tee-weet" is repeated to emphasize the senselessness of death and massacre - it takes that catharsis Billy just experienced and proves that the actions causing that were totally pointless and in no way beneficial.
In The Notebook, the first line of a preceding scene are repeated (sorry, I can't remember the exact phrase) to convey the miraculous power of love and the perseverance in the relationship between the two protagonists, Allie and Noah, despite current struggles of Alzheimer's disease.
Undoubtedly, I was very excited when I read the end of the book to discover the connection between these two novels. Thematically, the books are extremely different, but this technique is present in both.
~ Slaughterhouse-Five, page 215
This reminded me of another lovely book I read a couple years ago - The Notebook!
So both of these books contain a technique that I find particularly effective. Both use the repetition of a phrase or moment in the novel (repeated as the last line in the book) to convey some sort of message.
In Slaughterhouse-Five, the line "poo-tee-weet" is repeated to emphasize the senselessness of death and massacre - it takes that catharsis Billy just experienced and proves that the actions causing that were totally pointless and in no way beneficial.
In The Notebook, the first line of a preceding scene are repeated (sorry, I can't remember the exact phrase) to convey the miraculous power of love and the perseverance in the relationship between the two protagonists, Allie and Noah, despite current struggles of Alzheimer's disease.
Undoubtedly, I was very excited when I read the end of the book to discover the connection between these two novels. Thematically, the books are extremely different, but this technique is present in both.
Express, Don't Repress - Novel Blog 8 (Slaughterhouse-Five)
"The barbershop quartet sang again. Billy was emotionally racked again. The experience was definitely associated with those four men and not what they sang... Billy was pulled apart inside."
~ Slaughterhouse-Five, page 175
So Billy has a major emotional breakdown during this chapter - the singing quartet reminds him of the bombing in Dresden, which is a very traumatic experience for Billy. This scene actually contradicts what I thought had been a theme in the beginning of the book and some theories on which I had speculated. At first, I thought that the book was about veterans being affected by war, but so that they were completely apathetic to death and destruction and depressing matters. Actually, the message is completely the opposite - veterans are the most sensitive to death and violence. They have actually experienced it and it negatively affects their mentalities for the rest of their lives. They know first-hand how much harm the violence causes, and they see the innocent civilians hurt by other people's arguments. The concept isn't apathy, but suppression of emotion or unhealthy methods of coping with negative memories and experiences.
~ Slaughterhouse-Five, page 175
So Billy has a major emotional breakdown during this chapter - the singing quartet reminds him of the bombing in Dresden, which is a very traumatic experience for Billy. This scene actually contradicts what I thought had been a theme in the beginning of the book and some theories on which I had speculated. At first, I thought that the book was about veterans being affected by war, but so that they were completely apathetic to death and destruction and depressing matters. Actually, the message is completely the opposite - veterans are the most sensitive to death and violence. They have actually experienced it and it negatively affects their mentalities for the rest of their lives. They know first-hand how much harm the violence causes, and they see the innocent civilians hurt by other people's arguments. The concept isn't apathy, but suppression of emotion or unhealthy methods of coping with negative memories and experiences.
Playing God (Analogy) - Novel Blog 7 (Slaughterhouse-Five)
"Billy cried very little, though he often saw things worth crying about, and in that respect, at least, he resembled the Christ of the carol: The cattle are lowing, The Baby awakes. But the little Lord Jesus No crying he makes."
~ Slaughterhouse-Five, page 197
There are a lot of religious references and symbols in this book. Billy is often compared to Jesus, like in this passage. He witnesses a lot of sin and bad in the world, and he carries that on his shoulders throughout his life, a little like Jesus bearing the sins of humanity to save us. Both Jesus and Billy knew how they would die and accepted it gracefully. The only thing I can't connect is purpose - Jesus died to save our sins, and the whole Catholic religion is based on that act and trying to be a better person to attain salvation, however, Billy represents the exact opposite of that - he is just drifting through life with seemingly no purpose whatsoever but to be.
The other religious analogy I found was in Kilgore Trout's novel The Big Board. The aliens on the planet, the people in the zoo, and the plot are obviously based on Billy's life and his abduction, but I think the aliens also represent God in the story. They control all the conditions under which the humans live and can manipulate their moods and pretty much anything about their lives. It gets to the point where the humans actually pray to the aliens - they play God throughout the book. Because The Big Board represents Billy's alien experience, I think that the Tralfamadorians also are analogous to God; Billy adapts their ideals and perspectives on life, and he is subject to their care while he lives on their planet with Montana. I'm not saying 100 percent that they control his time-traveling, but obviously he is connected to them in a special way since no one but Billy and the Tralfamadorians can experience life out of chronological order. I kind of have a theory that the Tralfamadorians are controlling Billy's sporadic time travel; they play God in that sense. They also have an omniscience, especially because they can view the universe in four dimensions and understand much more about, well, everything.
~ Slaughterhouse-Five, page 197
There are a lot of religious references and symbols in this book. Billy is often compared to Jesus, like in this passage. He witnesses a lot of sin and bad in the world, and he carries that on his shoulders throughout his life, a little like Jesus bearing the sins of humanity to save us. Both Jesus and Billy knew how they would die and accepted it gracefully. The only thing I can't connect is purpose - Jesus died to save our sins, and the whole Catholic religion is based on that act and trying to be a better person to attain salvation, however, Billy represents the exact opposite of that - he is just drifting through life with seemingly no purpose whatsoever but to be.
The other religious analogy I found was in Kilgore Trout's novel The Big Board. The aliens on the planet, the people in the zoo, and the plot are obviously based on Billy's life and his abduction, but I think the aliens also represent God in the story. They control all the conditions under which the humans live and can manipulate their moods and pretty much anything about their lives. It gets to the point where the humans actually pray to the aliens - they play God throughout the book. Because The Big Board represents Billy's alien experience, I think that the Tralfamadorians also are analogous to God; Billy adapts their ideals and perspectives on life, and he is subject to their care while he lives on their planet with Montana. I'm not saying 100 percent that they control his time-traveling, but obviously he is connected to them in a special way since no one but Billy and the Tralfamadorians can experience life out of chronological order. I kind of have a theory that the Tralfamadorians are controlling Billy's sporadic time travel; they play God in that sense. They also have an omniscience, especially because they can view the universe in four dimensions and understand much more about, well, everything.
Dramatic Irony - Novel Blog 6 (Slaughterhouse-Five)
"You needn't worry about bombs, by the way. Dresden is an open city. It is undefended, and contains no war industries or troop concentrations of any importance."
~ Slaughterhouse-Five, page 145
Ooohh.... this is awkward. We are dealing with some major dramatic irony in this situation here. Both the reader and Billy Pilgrim know that Dresden is bombed (that's where a lot of Billy's mental instability originates), but the other soldiers don't know. This creates suspense for the reader throughout the rest of the book, especially at the end when Dresden actually is bombed. Actually, I thought the bombing was somewhat anti-climactic, but that's besides the point. This scene kind of gives the reader a sense of how Billy feels throughout his life - he knows just about everything that's going to happen, and he just has to sit and listen to other people's speculations and comments even if they are completely wrong. Like this one. So we get to empathize with Billy a bit more and understand his helpless condition - we sort of watch his life play out along with him.
~ Slaughterhouse-Five, page 145
Ooohh.... this is awkward. We are dealing with some major dramatic irony in this situation here. Both the reader and Billy Pilgrim know that Dresden is bombed (that's where a lot of Billy's mental instability originates), but the other soldiers don't know. This creates suspense for the reader throughout the rest of the book, especially at the end when Dresden actually is bombed. Actually, I thought the bombing was somewhat anti-climactic, but that's besides the point. This scene kind of gives the reader a sense of how Billy feels throughout his life - he knows just about everything that's going to happen, and he just has to sit and listen to other people's speculations and comments even if they are completely wrong. Like this one. So we get to empathize with Billy a bit more and understand his helpless condition - we sort of watch his life play out along with him.
Monday, April 23, 2012
Change - Novel Blog 5 (Slaughterhouse-Five)
"Billy is spastic in time, has no control over where he is going next, and the trips aren't necessarily fun. He is in a constant state of stage fright, he says, because he never knows what part of his life he is going to have to act in next."
~ Slaughterhouse-Five, page 23
Okay, so I know that Billy has no way to stick himself back in time, but it seems like he isn't doing anything to try to provoke any change at all. He says he has to act in whatever part of his life he is in, but does he really? This is my question. Is Billy limited to a certain, predestined life that he must live a particular way, or could he change his actions? What if he did something completely drastic during the war that changed the whole course of his future? Is that going to be a plot later in the book? He has a mediocre life, but could he have done something differently to make it better? He could at least make it interesting, even if the repercussions were severe and negative. I don't know. I just think his lack of resistance is unsettling. I want him to do something different.
~ Slaughterhouse-Five, page 23
Okay, so I know that Billy has no way to stick himself back in time, but it seems like he isn't doing anything to try to provoke any change at all. He says he has to act in whatever part of his life he is in, but does he really? This is my question. Is Billy limited to a certain, predestined life that he must live a particular way, or could he change his actions? What if he did something completely drastic during the war that changed the whole course of his future? Is that going to be a plot later in the book? He has a mediocre life, but could he have done something differently to make it better? He could at least make it interesting, even if the repercussions were severe and negative. I don't know. I just think his lack of resistance is unsettling. I want him to do something different.
Chaos. Confusion. No Chronological Order Whatsoever - Novel Blog 4 (Slaughterhouse-Five)
"Listen: Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time."
~ Slaughterhouse-Five, page 23
Prepare for my rant blog. *
Can we please read just one book or poem or short story or some other piece of literature that's chronological? Is it that hard to find a novel with literary merit that follows a secure timeline and progresses naturally? It's not even that the book is out of order that bothers me so much - I can handle that. It's the fact that you think you are reading something important and then you are completely thrown into a different time that is wholly unrelated. And let me tell you, it has been just peachy filling out my setting section of note taking. I'm just wondering if there is even a point to the order of the events or if they are random. Probably the latter. At this point in my senior year, I just want a simple, shallow book that takes a limited amount of brain cells to understand and analyze. Unfortunately, I don't think that's an option in this class....
*If you are a student reading this for our discussion class, just save yourself the trouble and skip this blog.
~ Slaughterhouse-Five, page 23
Prepare for my rant blog. *
Can we please read just one book or poem or short story or some other piece of literature that's chronological? Is it that hard to find a novel with literary merit that follows a secure timeline and progresses naturally? It's not even that the book is out of order that bothers me so much - I can handle that. It's the fact that you think you are reading something important and then you are completely thrown into a different time that is wholly unrelated. And let me tell you, it has been just peachy filling out my setting section of note taking. I'm just wondering if there is even a point to the order of the events or if they are random. Probably the latter. At this point in my senior year, I just want a simple, shallow book that takes a limited amount of brain cells to understand and analyze. Unfortunately, I don't think that's an option in this class....
*If you are a student reading this for our discussion class, just save yourself the trouble and skip this blog.
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