Chapter 1- Allusion

At the end of Chapter One, Vonnegut stumbles upon the story of Lot and his wife in the motel copy of the Bible. The author reiterates the fact that Lot's wife looked back at the life she once knew, and he says, "I love her for that, because it was so human.". He uses this allusion to describe the quality of his book. Setting himself and the audience up for disappointment, Vonnegut declares that his book will undoubtably be a failure since a "pillar of salt" will have written it. The use of this allusion highlights the fact that Vonnegut finds himself and all humans to be inadequate. Too often, people sugar coat the fact that all humans make mistakes; therefore, I admire Vonnegut's blatant admission of imperfection through the use of this allusion.