Chapter 10- The Circle of Life

     Throughout the novel, life and death were major themes. For example, the use of "So it goes." revolves around the concept that death is inevitable. Although this may seem ominious or macabre, the novel also hinges on the Tralfamadorian idea that no one truly dies. This is illustrated in chapter one as Billy Pilgrim says, "'When a Tralfamadorian sees a corpse, all he thinks is that the dead person is in bad condition in that particular moment, but that the same person is just fine in plenty of other moments.'" (27). In chapter ten, this same idea is presented through the mentioning of Charles Darwin "who taught that those who die are meant to die, that corpses are improvements. So it goes." (210). Darwin is viewed by Tralfamadorians to be the "most engaging Earthling figure" because of his teachings regarding death. As I discussed in my onomatopoeia blog post, I am reminded of a circle because of these elements, a circle of life, to be more exact. As soon as this phrase entered my mind, I thought of Disney's circle of life in the movie The Lion King. The movie's opening song focuses on the fact that life is a circle with people dying and new lives replacing the old which is evident by the new life of Simba the lion. This can be connected to Slaughterhouse Five since a circle of life has been a theme throughout the entire novel. The applied message that I can take away is that everyone only has a limited amount of time to life; therefore, we must make our own impact before it is too late.
For now, we'll let Disney prove this point.