So I was reading chapter 8, and I came across yet another quote.
"Blue is for the American sky" (163).
I see this saying as almost a search for hope, or one who knows what the future holds. Someone who wants freedom for all. Because when I think of America, I think of freedom. He's talking about what's on the American flag, and what each color represents. So blue being for the American sky, to me, is searching for freedom from the war, and maybe all of the pain and suffering around them. What do you guys see this quote as?
Monday, January 4, 2016
Billy's Sudden Clarity
In chapter 5, I came across a quote that captured my attention.
"Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt" (122).
I won't lie to you, this quote is deep. This was my favorite quote in the whole book. It got me thinking, is Billy really that sad that he's already thinking about what will be on his grave stone? The world is such a destructive place, but yet, you can still find the beauty in small things. I think that's what he's trying to say; that even though there's a war going on, there's still beauty around you. But it could also mean that everything stops hurting when you die. All of the pain and terror you feel within suddenly disappears and you're left with a wave of calm. That clarity is the beauty Billy now sees within the world that maybe he didn't before.
"Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt" (122).
I won't lie to you, this quote is deep. This was my favorite quote in the whole book. It got me thinking, is Billy really that sad that he's already thinking about what will be on his grave stone? The world is such a destructive place, but yet, you can still find the beauty in small things. I think that's what he's trying to say; that even though there's a war going on, there's still beauty around you. But it could also mean that everything stops hurting when you die. All of the pain and terror you feel within suddenly disappears and you're left with a wave of calm. That clarity is the beauty Billy now sees within the world that maybe he didn't before.
Free Will
While I was reading chapter 4, I came across another quote that caught my attention and made me think.
"If I hadn't spent so much time studying Earthlings...I wouldn't have any idea what was meant by 'free will'. I visited thirty-one inhabited planets in the universe, and I have studied reports on one hundred more. Only on Earth is there any talk of free will" (86).
This statement from the Tralfamadorian caught my attention, because I had never thought of 'free will' that deeply before. We live in a society where everyone naturally has it, until you abuse the rules of the society. However, is there really such thing as 'free will'? No matter what you do, there will always be consequences for your actions, whether good or bad.
"If I hadn't spent so much time studying Earthlings...I wouldn't have any idea what was meant by 'free will'. I visited thirty-one inhabited planets in the universe, and I have studied reports on one hundred more. Only on Earth is there any talk of free will" (86).
This statement from the Tralfamadorian caught my attention, because I had never thought of 'free will' that deeply before. We live in a society where everyone naturally has it, until you abuse the rules of the society. However, is there really such thing as 'free will'? No matter what you do, there will always be consequences for your actions, whether good or bad.
Billy's Fate
As I was reading chapter 1, I came across a quote that caught my attention.
"I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I have to go" (20).
I feel like this quote is what keeps Billy going, because it seems like a strong quote. The war has had such an impact on him, that even waking up is bad. He's saying he wakes up to sleep, because he doesn't want to be in this war or where there's pain. He slowly wakes up because he's not ready for the tragedies he will witness. Maybe he's saying that he cannot fear his fate, because it is what it is; uncontrollable. He just gets up and does what he needs to in order to survive, and for him, that's enough.
What do you think the quote means to Billy?
"I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I have to go" (20).
I feel like this quote is what keeps Billy going, because it seems like a strong quote. The war has had such an impact on him, that even waking up is bad. He's saying he wakes up to sleep, because he doesn't want to be in this war or where there's pain. He slowly wakes up because he's not ready for the tragedies he will witness. Maybe he's saying that he cannot fear his fate, because it is what it is; uncontrollable. He just gets up and does what he needs to in order to survive, and for him, that's enough.
What do you think the quote means to Billy?
Billy going crazy
In chapter 5, Kurt Vonnegut talks about how nobody really thought that Billy was going crazy, they just thought he was acting normal. He then went to to the hospital, and they said, he had gone insane. What was the cause for Billy going crazy, the war, his child hood?
Sunday, January 3, 2016
In chapter 5, Billy time travels back into his childhood at age 12. He was going crazy, because in the chapter before, he was captured by a flying saucer in the next chapter. Billy travels back to the Grand Canyon. This chapter was important, because it shows that Billy is going crazy in Tralfamadore.
Billy as a character
The writing style of this novel doesn't give the reader a chance to fully understand Billy as a character. We have read snippets about Billy's childhood, read about his job as an optometrist, and heard about his strange interactions with his war comrades. Some of the Billy's memories that we read seem to be random and sometimes unexpected which makes it hard to figure out Billy. In many other books, the reader is able to learn and connect with the main character within the first 50 pages of the book, but all throughout this book I find myself still trying to understand Billy as a character. In class when we read The Grapes of Wrath, we were able to quickly learn about Tom Joad. We quickly learned that he was recently let out of jail, he's faithful to his family, connected to his community, and a hard worker. All of these qualities are personal things that made it easy to connect to Tom, but the main character of Slaughterhouse Five, Billy, is quite different.
When Billy was in the hospital after his plane crashed into Sugarbush, few people came to visit him. Another patient who shared the room with him said, "'He bores the hell out of me'" (pg 184). Even in the war he was not appreciated or liked at all by the other men. He even told them to "go on without me" because he knew that he was not wanted (pg 156). When he traveled with his comrades on the train, they wanted him to "keep the hell away from here" (pg 79). So, at many different points Billy was clearly not accepted by other people. However, it is hard to understand why he wasn't accepted since the reader was never able to fully connect with Billy and understand him. It is hard to imagine what he does to make people hate him so much.
Why do you think Billy is not liked by many people? Why was Billy chosen as the main character of this book if he isn't a "likable" person? Do you think that the writing style of the book contributes to how much we are able to discover about Billy?
When Billy was in the hospital after his plane crashed into Sugarbush, few people came to visit him. Another patient who shared the room with him said, "'He bores the hell out of me'" (pg 184). Even in the war he was not appreciated or liked at all by the other men. He even told them to "go on without me" because he knew that he was not wanted (pg 156). When he traveled with his comrades on the train, they wanted him to "keep the hell away from here" (pg 79). So, at many different points Billy was clearly not accepted by other people. However, it is hard to understand why he wasn't accepted since the reader was never able to fully connect with Billy and understand him. It is hard to imagine what he does to make people hate him so much.
Why do you think Billy is not liked by many people? Why was Billy chosen as the main character of this book if he isn't a "likable" person? Do you think that the writing style of the book contributes to how much we are able to discover about Billy?
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