While in the hospital for veterans three years after the war, Billy Pilgrim notices a bottle of water on his bedside table. The personification's inception is "The water was dead. So it goes."(101). Since water cannot literally die, the dead water is used to illustrate the fact that Billy feels dead while in the hospital although he is not actually deceased. This also represent Billy's outlook on life since "Billy didn't really like life at all"(102). Moreover, the water is further described in detail; "Air was trying to get out of that dead water. Bubbles were clinging to the walls of the glass, too weak to climb out.". Because bubbles can neither be physically weak nor physically climb, they represent Billy Pilgrim's feelings of entrapment and helplessness. Hopefully, these feelings of despair dissipate throughout the novel.
I didn't notice Vonnegut giving the water and bubbles qualities of a living being! Now that I notice it, I like how he uses this to describe his helpless situation. I'm sure many people would feel helpless if they were just sitting in a hospital bed all day.
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