Chapter 10 Motif

In Chapter 10, Vonnegut used the saying "So it goes" many different  times. Evey time that Billy explained how a character had died, he followed it by "So it goes". Even though it was one of the shortest chapters in the book, "So it goes" was used more than in any other chapter. For example, on a single page in chapter 10 it was used three times and in other chapters. "Martin Luther King was shot a month ago. He died. So it goes" Throughout the course of the novel, Vonnegut has frequently used "so it goes." Every death or reference to death is followed by "So it goes." I believe that Vonnegut does this because once someone has passed away, there is nothing that one can do about it. Every death in the novel that is followed by "So it goes" symbolizes that all the deaths are dealt with in the same way. So by saying "So it Goes" Vonnegut is showing us that that particular death is just another death. So it goes.

Chapter 10 Poo-tee-weet?

In the last sentence of Slaughterhouse-five, Vonnegut brought back the bird from the beginning of the novel. "One bird said to Billy, 'Poo-tee-weet?'" Vonnegut used this sentence in the beginning of the novel when a massacre occured. He says this because what else are you suppose to say after a massacre. By using this sentence at the end of the book. It lets the reader know that a massacre has occured, and what are you suppose to say about that. "Poo-tee-weet" is about as an appropriate  saying as anything else. What are you suppose to say after the loss of so many people? What are we suppose to say about was in general? Vonnegut shows us that at radical moments in our lives, sometimes there is nothing to say. Sometimes the only thing that can be said is "Poo-tee-weet?" Vonnegut used the bird's saying of "Poo-tee-weet" to pull the entire book together.

   

Chapter 9 Turning Your Life Arond

     In chapter 9, we meet Robert, Billy's son. Billy's son is much like Michael Oher from the movie The Blindside. Robert is the person described as "a boy who flunked out of high school, who had been an alchoholic at sixteen, who had run with a rotten bunch of kids... he is all straightened out now."  He is now in the military and has a purple heart and a silver and bronze star. Even though at one point in his life he was in a bad situation, he has turned his life around.

     Robert, Billy's son, is similar to Michael Oher in The Blindside. Before Michael was taken in by the Touhy family, Michael was stuck in the wrong group of people. He was hanging out with the kind of people who all they cared about was drinking and doing drugs. He was able to break away from that group of people. Just as Robert was able to break away from his notorious group of friends. Now that Michael has broke away from his group of friends, he is playing football at the college of Ole Miss. He has completely turned his life around, just as Robert, Billy's son, did in Slaughterhouse-five.

Chapter 9 Motif

Motif: any element, subject, idea or concept that is constantly present through the entire body of literature. Using a motif refers to the repetition of a specific theme dominating the literary work.
     At the beginning of chapter 9, the only word to describe the scene is endless love. The literary device of motif  is seen through the endless love for Billy Pilgrim from Valencia. Throughout the novel, we have seen the love that Valencia has for Billy grow. Even to the end of her life, Valencia cared for Billy. Even the last moment of her life were spent caring for Billy. Her love for Billy was so strong that when she found out that he might die, she was overcome with emotions. She was so overcome with emotions that she wrecked her car to the point that she shouldn't be driving it. She didn't even consider any of the risks of driving her car to the hospital. All she cared about was Billy. From the time that we met Valencia, we knew that she was in love with Billy. Even through all of his hard times in the war, Valencia stood by his side and always loved him. From the first moment we met her to the last moment we saw her, her love for Billy continued to grow stronger than ever until the end.

Chapter 8 Money doesn't grow on Trees

     During Chapter 8, we meet the character of Kilgore Trout. He is not only a failed author, but he is also sells newspapers. But no, he doesn't sell them himself, he makes children see them! Not only does he make them see them, but if they try and quit he just yells at him! During this chapter, he offers a trip to a winehouse  to the person, and their parents, who sells the most magazines in the next two months. When a little girl asks if her sister can come along, he says "You think money grows on trees?" That question made me think of the cartoon above. When Trout says this, the reader learns a lot about the kind of person that Trout is. The reader learns that Trout is not a kid person, nor does he care about anyone. Even the people that consider him friends say "he has also become Trout's friend, to the extent that anyone can become a friend of Trout, who is a bitter man." Throughout this chapter, we learn a lot about the character of Kilgore Trout who is a friend and role model for Billy Pilgrim.

Chapter 8 Imagery

     One the first page of Chapter 8, Howard W. Campbell Jr., an American who had become a nazi came to speak to the soldiers two days before Dresden was destroyed. On this page, Vonnegut used imagery to allow the reader to see what Howard W. Campbell Jr. really looked like. His fine detail allowed the reader to really visualize what Campbell looked like as he was speaking to the Americans.
   "Campbell was an ordinary looking man, but he was extravagantly costumed in a uniform of his own design. He wore a white ten-gallon hat and black cowboy boots decorated with swastikas and stars. He was sheathed in a blue body stocking which had yellow stripes running from his armpits to his ankles. His shoulder patch was a silhouette of Abraham Lincoln's profile on a field of pale green. He had a broad armband which was red, with a blue swastika in a circle of white."
     Vonnegut used imagery in this particular part of the chapter to allow the reader to see what the character actualy looked like. His specific attention to all the details made it easy for the reader to create a mental picture of what the soldiers were really seeing. The soldiers may have all been tired and ready to be done with the day, but after the statement that Campbell made in his clothing, he got their attention. Campbell really wanted them to join the front line of the Russians. Vonnegut's great use of imagery allowed the reader to really visualize Howard W. Campbell Jr.!!

Chapter 7 Unconscious Visions

     During Chapter 7, Billy is moved to a different location and is given surgery. "A famous brain surgeon came from Boston and operated on him for three hours." During this operation, "Billy was unconscious for two days after that, and he dreamed millions of things, some of them true." This part of the book made me think of the book Heaven is for Real. In this book, a little boy is in the hospital having surgery just like Billy. Just as Billy did, the boy in the story had many different visions. One of his visions was that he had was that he went to heaven and back. Billy also had many visions, most of them were time traveling. Even though many people did not believe both of them, they both stand behind the visions that they had. During this, Billy traveled to Tralfamadore and when he returned to tell people his story, many thought that he was either crazy or had an insane imagination. The boy from the story also was questioned when he first began to explain what he saw during his sugery.Both the boy from Heaven is for Real and Billy Pilgrim from Slaughterhouse-five experienced many things during and after their surgeries that not many other people will experience and were questioned from their experiences.
    

Chapter 7 All men are machines Metaphor

     At the beginning of chapter 7, Billy Pilgrim uses the metaphor "Lionel Merble is a machine. Tralfamadorians, of course, say that every creature and plant in the universe is a machine." The Tralfamadorians believe that every man on earth was put her for a certain reason. They believe that we all have a certain mission that we need to follow. The purpose of this simile was to show some of the views of the Tralfamadorians. Vonnegut wanted us to see the way that humans are seen by other species. We are believed to be machines that are always being controlled. The Tralfamadorians do not believe in the fact of free will. They believe that even though we think we are making our decisions, something or someone is really controlling us.
     Unlike the Tralfamadorians, humans believe that we are free human beings that make our own decision. In America, unlike some other countries, we believe in free will and are given it. We believe that we have control of our future and that no one is in control of us. We take credit for our success as well as our failures. We believe that we make all of our life's major choices that effect our future. To us, the fact that others believe we are machines is insane. Even though it is an insane thought to us, the Tralfamadorians believe that all humans are machines.

Chapter 6 Sweet Revenge

     One thing that I really noticed throughout Chapter 6 was that a lot of it was spent talking about revenge. Mostly the revenge that Lazzaro was planning on having on Billy for the death of Ronald Weary. "When he was gone, Lazzaro promised Billy and poor old Edgar Derby that he was going to have revenge and that revenge was sweet." Lazzaro talks about how revenge is the sweetest thing in life. "'Anybody ever ask you what the sweetest thing in life is... its revenge"' Throughout the rest of the chapter, Lazzaro slowly drops hints on how he is going to get his revenge on Billy Pilgrim for the death of Ronald Weary. Lazzaro talks about how he could have anybody in the world killed for a thousand dollars. He says that the paid man could go up to that persons door, ask if he was the man he intended to kill, tell him that Lazzaro sent him, give him a minute to think about who he was, and shoot him. He tells Billy to "Enjoy your life while you can. Nothing is going to happen for five, ten, fifteen, twenty years. But let me give you a piece of advice: Whenever the doorbell rings, have someone else answer the door."
    All this talk of revenge made me think of the movie the Parent Trap. Throughout many  different parts of the movie, the two girls, whether working together or against each other, have some plan of revenge. The first is at the beginning of the movie when the two girls are at camp. Annie James puts all of the furniture that is in Hallie Parker's cabin on the roof. After this stunt was pulled, Hallie Parker wanted to get revenge on Annie, so she set up an elaborate trap involving chicken feathers and honey. Even though the plan took a turn for the worst when the camp leader fell into the trap instead of Annie, the whole point of the plan was revenge. The two twins also work together to get revenge on Meredith Blake. Neither of the two sisters like the idea of having a new mother who is marrying their dad for his money. While they are out on their annual camping trip, they play many tricks on them to get their revenge. One of them involves putting her air mattress in the middle of the lake while she is sleeping. Revenge is a very large part of the Parent Trap and Chapter 6 of Slaughterhouse-five.

Chapter 6 Imagery

     "Billy sat up in bed. He had no idea what year it was or what planet he was on. Whatever the planets name was, it was cold. But it wasn't the cold that awakened Billy. It was animal magnetism which was making him shiver and itch. It gave him profound aches in his musculature, as though he had been exercising hard."
      Throughout this paragraph of Chapter 6, the reader, through Vonneguts use of imagery, was really able to feel as Billy Pilgrim did. When Vonnegut talked about Billy not knowing where he was or what planet he was one, the reader really began to understand how Billy's mind was processing at the time. Also, when he was describing how the planet was cold, Vonnegut allowed the reader to see the atmosphere and really be able to feel of the scene. Another part of the quote that was well described was when Vonnegut spoke of the animal magnetism that was making him shiver and itch. During that sentence, we learn about what Billy was feeling externally. And finally when he began to describe his achy muscles, the reader was fully able to see the wholeness of the character of Billy Pilgrim.
     Throughout this part of the chapter, Vonnegut did an excellent job in fully describing the character of Billy Pilrgim. The reader was able to really picture what Billy Pilgrim looked like throughout  the entire scene. Through Vonnegut's use of imagery, the reader was able to make mental pictures of the scene. Vonneguts use of imagery throughout the beginning of the chapter really gave the reader a glimpse into the real character of Billy Pilgrim.

Chapter 5 Self Beauty

    During this chapter, Billy is taken to Tralfamador where he is on display at the zoo. Because no one has ever seen a human before, they think that Billy is the best looking person in the world. Even though Billy is getting all of the attention, he still does not believe in the beauty that everyone else sees. He talks about how they only like him because they do not know anything else. Billy does not have the self-esteem  that the Tralfamadorians see in him.

     Another character that is a lot like Billy Pilgrim is Chicken Little. Since people always put down all of his ideas and bullied him, he began to think of himself in a negative way. He never saw himself as greatness. Even though certain people saw the greatness in him, like they saw in Billy, he did not see it in himself. Just as people on Tralfamadore love Billy, Abby Mallard (aka the ugly duckling) has a crush on Billy. Even though he doesn't see his beauty, Abby does. Abby, unlike the Tralfamadorians, has seen many other people that are better looking than Chicken Little. She likes him just the way that he is and wants him to also see that in himself.

Chapter 5 Flashbacks

      Throughout Chapter 5, I have noticed many more flashbacks than usual. Usually during one chapter, the story flashes back maybe 3 or 4 times, but throughout this chapter there have been an increasingly more amount of flashbacks. Not only are there are more flashbacks because the chapter is so much longer, but more action also occurs. Billy Pilgrim has traveled farther back in time than in previous chapters. During this chapter it flashes back to him being captured in the war and receiving his dog tags. We, the readers, also find out about the death of Ronald Weary and how he convinced everyone that Billy Pilgrim was the one who killed him. We also learn about his time after the war. When he was in the  mental hospital about three years after the war. We learn that he is engaged to Valencia, who loves to eat chocolate bars, and how he hides every time his mother comes to visit him. Many things are revealed in this chapter. 
    Throughout this chapter we learn a lot more about his family life and his life outside of the war. His fiancee, Valencia, visits him frequently when he is in the mental hospital and talks to him about many different events. One of the events that they are currently planning is their wedding. We learn that Billy is willing to go along with whatever Valencia wants. We also learn that she is taking these decisions way more seriously than Billy  Pilgrim is. We learn that he did not even want to propose to her, but he did anyways. While he is with his fiancee planning the wedding, he finds himself in a zoo in Tralfamadore. He is a forty-four year old man on display in a reclining chair. Vonnegut, through the use of flasbacks, made it easier for the reader to understand why Billy Pilgrim is the way that he is in present time.
     Vonnegut's point in these very frequent flashbacks is to show how Billy Pilgrim's past has shaped him into the man that he is in the present day. Vonnegut also adds these flashbacks to show how different things connect to points in his life.

Chapter 4 Tralfamadorians and Buggers

     The scene described in Chapter 4, which describes the Tralfamadorians, is very similar to the Buggers in the book Ender's Game. "There were two peepholes inside the airlock- with yellow eyes pressed to them. There was a speaker on the wall. The Tralfamadorians had no voice boxes. They communicated telepathically. They were able to talk to Billy be means of a computer and a sort of electric organ which made every earthling speech sound." The Tralfamadorians were an extraterrestrial species that taken communication with people from Earth, just as the Buggers in Ender's Game.
     The Tralfamadorians in Slaughterhouse-five and the Buggers in Ender's Game have many similar characteristics.  Both of the extraterrestrial species are from another planet that are seeking communication between them and the people of earth. Both species also communicate telepathically. Because of their telepathy, it makes it very difficult for the people of earth  to understand them. The people of earth, in both books, have to make special devices, or devices made for them, to be able to communicate with the Tralfamadorians and the Buggers. Just as the Tralfamadorians are kidnapping people of earth, the Buggers also come to earth to communicate with the people of earth. Both of the extraterrestrial species have harmed the earthlings in some way or another. The buggers have taken war on the planet of earth and the Tralfamadorians are holding people of earth captive on their planet. The Tralfamadorians of Slaughterhouse-five  and the Buggers of Ender's Game are very similar.

Chapter 4 Bugs in Amber Metaphor

     In Chapter 4, Vonnegut uses the metaphor "Take it moment by moment, and you will find that we are all, like I've said before, bugs in amber." When Billy is on the planet of Tralfamador, he keeps asking questions like "Why me?" and every time, the Tralfamadorians tell him that he is a bug in amber. When they say this, they are speaking of how he is there against his own free will. When bugs are stuck in amber, they have no way of escaping. Just as while Billy is on Tralfamador, he is stuck there with no way of returning.
The Tralfamadorians tell him to take it moment by moment because when you savor each moment that you are presented with you will begin to see how our lives are controlled by other things. They are trying to tell him that he has no control over what happens in his life, when he already knows that there are some things in his life that he can control.
     The metaphor that Vonnegut used can also be applied in our lives. We know that sometimes we have no control of things in our lives. Just as Billy Pilgrim asks "Why me?", we sometimes have the same questions. Like when something bad happens to us, we tend to ask questions that we will never know the answers to. Sometimes in our lives we are "bugs in amber" and feel as though we are stuck in life. When something bad happens to us or someone we know, we tend to feel just as Billy does. But just as Billy's plaque said in the last chapter, "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change."

Chapter 3 Golden Boots Anecdote

    In Chapter 3, Billy is lying on the black ice after all of his possesions, including his boots, were taken by the German soldiers. Vonnegut inserted the anecdote "One time a recruit was watching him bone and wax those golden boots, and he held one up to the recruit and said 'If you look in there deeply enough, you'll see Adam and Eve." Vonneguts purpose of putting this anecdote in this particular part of the story was to show what was going on in Billy's mind as he lost all of his possesions. The reality that he had lost everything that he had had not hit him yet, so he was dreaming. Vonnegut also wanted us to see how important those boots were to Billy and how special they were to him. By saying that he could see Adam and Eve in them, Vonngut showed the endless possibilities that those boots gave Billy. With those boots, he had all the protection in the world! But now that they have been taken away from him, his protection has been lost. The boots were more than just boots, they were his home.
     The anecdote can also be relevent in our daily lives. No we may not be soldiers that were just captured, but we all have had something that was very special to us taken away. It may have been the smallest thing when we look back at it now, but at the time it may have seemed like our entire world has come to a halt. It may have been one of those things that offered us many hours of fun and games. When that thing was taken away from us, we felt as Billy Pilgrim did when he lost his boots to the German soldiers. Just as the boots were the most important possessions that Billy had, before they were taken away, we have all had those special things in our lives. We have all faced the devastation of something special being taken away from us, just as Billy has his boots taken away!

Chapter 3 Serenity

     During Chapter 3, the reader sees Billy Pilgrim in his modern life. It shows him in his office at work and it shows a special prayer that he keeps on his wall. "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to always tell the difference. In this prayer, Billy expresses many things that he cannot change which include his past. No matter what he does, his past is always going to be the same. When the prayer talks about the courage to change the things I can, it talks about his future. One thing in his life that he can control is his future and the way that he deals with his past. His future can be whatever he wants it to be; it does not have to have anything to do with his past. He also has to remember the last line of the prayer "And the wisdom to know the difference". He knows that there are some things in his life that he can change and some that he can not. He needs to spend his time focusing on what he can change and not worry about the things he cannot change.
     The prayer above can also be used in our daily lives. Just as Billy has things in his life he cannot change, we also have things that cannot be changed. We need to accept that there will be certain things in our lives that we have absolutely no control over, but there are also things that we control! We cannot change our past, but we have complete control over our future. We need to spend all of our time focusing on what we can be and what we can become, instead of worrying about what our past has shaped us into. Just as Billy Pilgrim, we need to accept the things we cannot change, have the courage to accept the things we can, and have the courage to know the difference.

Chapter 2 Tweedledum or Tweedledee

     Vonnegut described Roland Weary walking around the battlefield as "Tweedledum or Tweedledee, all bundled up for battle." Vonnegut made the comparison between Ronald Weary and Tweedledum or Tweedledee in order for the reader to really visualize what Ronald Weary looked like during the time of the war. Just as Tweedledum or Tweedledee, Ronald Weary "was short and thick." Ronald Weary, at that point, was carrying every gift or present he had ever received, all the weapons he could hold, and everything from home you could imagine. Vonnegut wanted the reader to really be able to see what he was imagining Ronald Weary as when he was writing the book.

 
    Tweedledum or Tweedledee is a good comparison to Ronald Weary at this point in the story because of his appearance. Tweedledum or Tweedledee were cartoon characters from a 1951 Disney Animated Classic. They were two fairly large men, who were also funny looking characters. It is the perfect comparison to Ronald Weary because at the time he was also a "funny looking" person crawling through the forest . He was trying to escape imprisonment from the Germans. Most men at that point were packing light and staying in shape. Just as Tweedledum and Tweedledee looked different from the rest of the society that they lived in, Ronald Weary looked different from his surrounding soldiers. Vonnegut made a very good visualization for the reader by adding the characters of Tweedledee or Tweedledum to his novel.

Chapter 2 The Four Men and Mammals Simile

     Vonnegut used the simile "They crawled into a forest like the big, unlucky mammals they were" to explain what it was like for the soldiers to crawl through the forest. The four men had to travel through the woods and try to escape the imprisonment of the German soldiers. They were unlucky because they were always avoiding being killed by their enemies and they never knew their next move of defense. They always had unexpected events happen in their journey. Sometimes soldiers would come and take all of their defense and leave them empty handed. But no matter what happens to them, they always persevered and head toward their freedom!
     
       The simile used by Vonnegut can compare to our daily lives. Just as the characters in the story, we all have our struggles in our daily lives. We are all unlucky with certain situations and struggles that we experience throughout our daily lives. Sometimes we feel as though we are "crawling through a forest" of struggles in our lives. Sometimes we feel like there is no escaping some of these struggles. Just as we have our inescapable troubles, the soldiers also have theirs. Some of them include avoiding Germans, finding food and water, and just surviving. No matter how hard we try and escape these struggles, sometimes they just keep coming back! Again and again. Sometimes we know they are coming and other times they are very unexpected! Just like in the story when their equipment is taken away, sometimes we feel as though a part of us has been lost throughout these struggles. Sometimes these struggles even take people away from us. We have to carry our struggles with us and persevere, just like the four men in the story!

Chapter 1 No Looking Back

     At the end of Chapter 1, Vonnegut talks about not looking back at the past, but looking into the future. "People aren't suppose to look back. I am certainly not doing it anymore." The quote from Slaughterhouse-five made me think of the song "No Looking Back" by Damita Haddon. Her song is all about embracing her future and leaving the past behind. Billy Pilgrim has finally finished his anti-war book and is now embracing his new challenge. "I have finished my war book now. The next one I write is going to be fun." Billy Pilgrim is ready to forget about the part of his life that has consumed his life, while he was writing his book. Billy is ready to embrace his future and whatever is instore for him.
     Damita Haddon's song "No Looking Back" is similar to what Billy is going through right now. She has decided to leave the past behind her. "I made up my mind- theres no turning back-the past is behind me- theres no looking back" Just as Billy has decided to put his past behind him, so is Damita Haddon. She has decided to embrace her future in the lyrics of "I'm looking forward not behind." She, as well as Billy, sees the bright future that is ahead of her. "I can see the sun breaking through the clouds." Damita is leaving the past behind her and embracing the new life that is to come ahead of her.
      We also can relate to what is going on in Slaughterhouse-five right now. We all have parts of our past that we would like to forget about, so we need to have the same mind set as Billy and Damita. We all have a great life ahead of us and we need to look toward the future. We need to forget about our past and embrace our future. Look ahead instead of behind!