Chapter seven and eight of Slaughter House-Five, do not show a lot of new topics that may actually shock the reader as some previous chapters. After reading this pages and finishing Gulliver’s Travels, I realized that both of these stories have a lot in common.
In one segment of Gulliver’s Travels, the narrator or the yahoo servant is recalls fraise that his master had told him before he left, “He told me ha had concluded that I had been dead.”(7) It is very strange to see how the master shares similar thoughts to those of Billy who thinks that he has already died many times, the same way and he has always seen it. I think that if another person thought that you already died, then it probably means that your function or purpose in life is no longer valid, and that it’s nor worth living anymore.
In Gulliver’s Travels, the reader can certainly notice the hate that the narrator feels against the Yahoo race, although he makes part of it. In this story, it is evident that the Yahoos and the Houyhnhnms live in a constant battle were in the country of one race the other is discriminated and humiliated, and vice versa. In the following quote the narrator expresses his detestation against hi own race, “But at last my detestation of the Yahoo race prevailed.”(11) This can compare itself in two ways with Slaughter House-Five. First of all, when Billy lives in during World War Two, it is evident that the tone of the novel goes against the Nazis, just because the it is an antiwar book. There we can finds a lot of hate towards the Jewish race and its people. Also the Germans are seen as evil. Later on we find characters such as Campbell who is American but is part of the Nazis. This character is very similar to Gulliver because they both support their enemies and hate their own nations.
Further on, I found the following quote which related Gulliver to Billy in a very close manner, “They admired to hear me answer in their own tongue and saw by my complexion that I must be a European; but were at a loss to know what I meant by Yahoos and Houyhnhnms, and at the same time fell a laughing at my strange tone, which resembled the neighing of a horse.”(11) In this citation I could observe that Gulliver is laughed at and seen as insane in the same way that Billy is seen by society when he is old and begins to speak about Tralfamadore and time-travel. Although in their hearts they are saying the truth, it sounds so ridiculous that no one will ever believe them. Until people don’t see, they don’t believe what they are told.
Finally I read a very interesting quote in Gulliver’s Travels that made me comprehend what this story was really about, “For who can read of the virtues I have mentioned in the glorious Houyhnhnms, without being ashamed of his own vices, when he considers himself as the reasoning , governing animal of his country? (16) Here I could see that the author wants to express the constant political battles that human beings find themselves fighting in for the power. In my perspective this story uses the two races of “animals” to show how human beings are always searching for their self interests. This quote reminded me of what I learned at the beginning of seventh grade about Aristotle. He said that man is a political animal, because he is always interested in gaining more power than the rest. This can be one interpretation for this story. It may relate to the war theme that the novel, Slaughter House- Five tries to convey because this book also shows how thousands of people were killed so that the cause of some would prevail (Nazis)
I have the following questions after reading this two chapters:
What is the real importance of Kilgore Trout in this story, will he be the only person that will believe Billy about his time-traveling?
Did he have anything to do with Billy believing that he travels in time, without considering that Billy has read his science fiction novels?
In one segment of Gulliver’s Travels, the narrator or the yahoo servant is recalls fraise that his master had told him before he left, “He told me ha had concluded that I had been dead.”(7) It is very strange to see how the master shares similar thoughts to those of Billy who thinks that he has already died many times, the same way and he has always seen it. I think that if another person thought that you already died, then it probably means that your function or purpose in life is no longer valid, and that it’s nor worth living anymore.
In Gulliver’s Travels, the reader can certainly notice the hate that the narrator feels against the Yahoo race, although he makes part of it. In this story, it is evident that the Yahoos and the Houyhnhnms live in a constant battle were in the country of one race the other is discriminated and humiliated, and vice versa. In the following quote the narrator expresses his detestation against hi own race, “But at last my detestation of the Yahoo race prevailed.”(11) This can compare itself in two ways with Slaughter House-Five. First of all, when Billy lives in during World War Two, it is evident that the tone of the novel goes against the Nazis, just because the it is an antiwar book. There we can finds a lot of hate towards the Jewish race and its people. Also the Germans are seen as evil. Later on we find characters such as Campbell who is American but is part of the Nazis. This character is very similar to Gulliver because they both support their enemies and hate their own nations.
Further on, I found the following quote which related Gulliver to Billy in a very close manner, “They admired to hear me answer in their own tongue and saw by my complexion that I must be a European; but were at a loss to know what I meant by Yahoos and Houyhnhnms, and at the same time fell a laughing at my strange tone, which resembled the neighing of a horse.”(11) In this citation I could observe that Gulliver is laughed at and seen as insane in the same way that Billy is seen by society when he is old and begins to speak about Tralfamadore and time-travel. Although in their hearts they are saying the truth, it sounds so ridiculous that no one will ever believe them. Until people don’t see, they don’t believe what they are told.
Finally I read a very interesting quote in Gulliver’s Travels that made me comprehend what this story was really about, “For who can read of the virtues I have mentioned in the glorious Houyhnhnms, without being ashamed of his own vices, when he considers himself as the reasoning , governing animal of his country? (16) Here I could see that the author wants to express the constant political battles that human beings find themselves fighting in for the power. In my perspective this story uses the two races of “animals” to show how human beings are always searching for their self interests. This quote reminded me of what I learned at the beginning of seventh grade about Aristotle. He said that man is a political animal, because he is always interested in gaining more power than the rest. This can be one interpretation for this story. It may relate to the war theme that the novel, Slaughter House- Five tries to convey because this book also shows how thousands of people were killed so that the cause of some would prevail (Nazis)
I have the following questions after reading this two chapters:
What is the real importance of Kilgore Trout in this story, will he be the only person that will believe Billy about his time-traveling?
Did he have anything to do with Billy believing that he travels in time, without considering that Billy has read his science fiction novels?
