One thing that struck me as strange in Slaughterhouse Five was the lack of empathy that Billy showed.
There were neither cradling fallen comrades nor trying to save the life of
anyone. There was not really anyone that he cared for most of the time. The
first time that he shed a tear during the book did not come at the death of his
wife, or the bombing of Dresden. It came with the physical suffering of two
horses.
“When Billy saw the condition of his means of
transportation, he burst into tears. He hadn’t cried about anything else in the
war” (Vonnegut 197). The only reason I can think that he would cry at this and
not the many other horrors that he saw is that this had a similarity to his Billy’s
own life. I believe that he felt the horses were just as helpless as he was and
that he saw that both he and the horses lacked free will. He felt that like him
the horses were forced to work and do things that they did not want to do.
Why do you think this event was the first thing during the
war to make Billy become visibly emotional and cry?
Throughout the many other war novels that we have read, war comrades have formed a close connection with each other. However, in Slaughterhouse Five Billy has not connected at all with many people around him. Even as he had conversations with his wife, it became clear that he was not close with her and they had a very weak relationship. I think that since he didn't have a close connection to his war comrades, Dresden or his wife, he must have not felt mournful when they died or (in the case of Dresden) were destroyed. Like you said, I think that he was able to connect to the horses more than anyone else which is why he cried when he saw them dying. He felt like he had been forced into the war, forced into his job, intones relationship with Valencia, and forced into many other things. So, he was able to connect to the horses over their similar issue of being forced into things.
ReplyDeleteAlso, seeing the horses suffering could have been the "final string" that pushed him over the edge after he had seen so much killing and suffering throughout his life.
I agree with your statement Eli, as well as Katherine. Many other people had to work and do things that they didn't want to do. They didn't have free will, not just the horses, but I agree with Katherine, that it was the last thing that made him crack.
ReplyDelete