Chapter six of Slaughter House-Five definitely gives the reader a lot of information to interpret. There are a lot of small details, which will give away very important information related to the theme of the novel.
First, Billy begins to feel things he has never perceived before and that may be connected to Tralfamador, or maybe to another dimension he hasn’t mentioned yet. The following quote was mentioned in the beginning of the chapter, regarding these strange messages. “Billy received a message carried by the radiations. He was told not to find out what the lumps were. He was advised to be content with knowing that they could work miracles for him, provided he did not insist on learning their nature.”(137) What are these radiations? Who are the responsible for creating them? Billy is surely making things up in his insanity or he has discovered another infrahuman secret.
As I recall the interview made to Kurt Vonnegut, the reporter had mentioned that in his books, Vonnegut uses profane language, and specially the word fuck. It is pretty obvious that putting curse words in a novel published so long ago, that was meant to be read in schools, could of created controversy. Still, I don’t think he was the first American author to write about sexual liberation. In the following quotation we can observe the use that the author gives to this word, when trying to define the tone of Lazzaro: “People fuck with me… and Jesus Christ are they ever fucking sorry. I laugh like hell. I don’t care if it’s a guy or a dame. If the President of the United States fucked around with me, I’d fix him good.”(138)
Not to far away from this dialogue, a topic that I had questioned in a previous entry reappeared within a different context. In one of the first chapters, Billy hears dogs barking and he sees two dogs, in two occasions that have a great difference of time between each other. In this chapter, a dog is mentioned by Lazzaro. He narrates the following situation, “You should have seen what I did to a dog one time…Son of a bitch hit me. So I got me some steak, and I got me some spring out of a clock. I cut that spring up in little pieces… they were sharp as razor blades…I stuck’em in to the steak way inside…I threw him the steak(dog)He swallowed it down in a big gulp…blood started coming out of his mouth. He started crying…I laughed and I said to him: ‘You got the right idea now. Tear your own guts out, boy. That’s me in there with all those knives.’”(139) After reading this, I was partly in shock and partly full of questions. I could say that the role of dogs in important in this novel, probably because the author is using them as a tool of symbolism. At the beginning, according to my personal interpretation, the dogs represented an evil force or the presence of fear and doubt. In this chapter, the dog is more of a victim and although it represented a threat then it became like an easy target to destroy. The dog could represent Dresden and the slaughter house that would be bombed further on, or it could a symbol for the enemies, in this case the Americans, for the Germans.
As I kept on reading I found the following metaphor, “The boots fit perfectly. Billy Pilgrim was Cinderella, and Cinderella was Billy Pilgrim.”(145) Although they are really referring to the physical action of Billy putting on Cinderella’s boots, and them fitting in perfectly, makes sense to why Billy was Cinderella. But Cinderella being Billy? After thinking about it I realized that Cinderella is Billy in a way because she had this night of fantasy, in which a magical character gave her the opportunity to go somewhere she would of never have gone, but under a certain period of time. Billy also was taken by the aliens and by his time-traveling ability to places he would have never visited, and he is also depending on time to continue with his adventures.
“We are leaving for Dresden today. Don’t worry. It will never be bombed. It is an open city.”(147) This segment reminds me of the movie, Titanic. History books say that those who traveled and died in that ship said that nothing would happen because not even God would sink the Titanic. Both of these quotes sound exactly the same. Human beings can be so stubborn when reality is right in front of them. Fear blinds them and these two are the perfect examples.
Finally, I found a crucial reference to the narration of this novel. We all know that there is a veteran of the war, which is probably Vonnegut himself who writes the novel that has Billy as a main character. Then almost at the end of the sixth chapter, the following quote appears, “Somebody behind him in the boxer car said, “Oz.” that was I. that was me. The only other city I’d ever seen was Indianapolis, Indiana.”(148) This indicated that the author of the novel was including himself inside the story of Billy in Dresden, meaning that he really knew Billy once.
First, Billy begins to feel things he has never perceived before and that may be connected to Tralfamador, or maybe to another dimension he hasn’t mentioned yet. The following quote was mentioned in the beginning of the chapter, regarding these strange messages. “Billy received a message carried by the radiations. He was told not to find out what the lumps were. He was advised to be content with knowing that they could work miracles for him, provided he did not insist on learning their nature.”(137) What are these radiations? Who are the responsible for creating them? Billy is surely making things up in his insanity or he has discovered another infrahuman secret.
As I recall the interview made to Kurt Vonnegut, the reporter had mentioned that in his books, Vonnegut uses profane language, and specially the word fuck. It is pretty obvious that putting curse words in a novel published so long ago, that was meant to be read in schools, could of created controversy. Still, I don’t think he was the first American author to write about sexual liberation. In the following quotation we can observe the use that the author gives to this word, when trying to define the tone of Lazzaro: “People fuck with me… and Jesus Christ are they ever fucking sorry. I laugh like hell. I don’t care if it’s a guy or a dame. If the President of the United States fucked around with me, I’d fix him good.”(138)
Not to far away from this dialogue, a topic that I had questioned in a previous entry reappeared within a different context. In one of the first chapters, Billy hears dogs barking and he sees two dogs, in two occasions that have a great difference of time between each other. In this chapter, a dog is mentioned by Lazzaro. He narrates the following situation, “You should have seen what I did to a dog one time…Son of a bitch hit me. So I got me some steak, and I got me some spring out of a clock. I cut that spring up in little pieces… they were sharp as razor blades…I stuck’em in to the steak way inside…I threw him the steak(dog)He swallowed it down in a big gulp…blood started coming out of his mouth. He started crying…I laughed and I said to him: ‘You got the right idea now. Tear your own guts out, boy. That’s me in there with all those knives.’”(139) After reading this, I was partly in shock and partly full of questions. I could say that the role of dogs in important in this novel, probably because the author is using them as a tool of symbolism. At the beginning, according to my personal interpretation, the dogs represented an evil force or the presence of fear and doubt. In this chapter, the dog is more of a victim and although it represented a threat then it became like an easy target to destroy. The dog could represent Dresden and the slaughter house that would be bombed further on, or it could a symbol for the enemies, in this case the Americans, for the Germans.
As I kept on reading I found the following metaphor, “The boots fit perfectly. Billy Pilgrim was Cinderella, and Cinderella was Billy Pilgrim.”(145) Although they are really referring to the physical action of Billy putting on Cinderella’s boots, and them fitting in perfectly, makes sense to why Billy was Cinderella. But Cinderella being Billy? After thinking about it I realized that Cinderella is Billy in a way because she had this night of fantasy, in which a magical character gave her the opportunity to go somewhere she would of never have gone, but under a certain period of time. Billy also was taken by the aliens and by his time-traveling ability to places he would have never visited, and he is also depending on time to continue with his adventures.
“We are leaving for Dresden today. Don’t worry. It will never be bombed. It is an open city.”(147) This segment reminds me of the movie, Titanic. History books say that those who traveled and died in that ship said that nothing would happen because not even God would sink the Titanic. Both of these quotes sound exactly the same. Human beings can be so stubborn when reality is right in front of them. Fear blinds them and these two are the perfect examples.
Finally, I found a crucial reference to the narration of this novel. We all know that there is a veteran of the war, which is probably Vonnegut himself who writes the novel that has Billy as a main character. Then almost at the end of the sixth chapter, the following quote appears, “Somebody behind him in the boxer car said, “Oz.” that was I. that was me. The only other city I’d ever seen was Indianapolis, Indiana.”(148) This indicated that the author of the novel was including himself inside the story of Billy in Dresden, meaning that he really knew Billy once.
1 comment:
You have been reading consistently but I disagree with some of your approach:
"It is pretty obvious that putting curse words in a novel published so long ago, that was meant to be read in schools, could HAVE created controversy."
Do authors write novels to be read in schools? Or is something larger happening here? You can't use these sort of generalizations in your analysis.
"Chapter six of Slaughter House-Five definitely gives the reader a lot of information to interpret. There are a lot of small details, which will give away very important information related to the theme of the novel."
I find this too general. What chapters don't present information?
Avoid this use.
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