Chapter 4- Imagery

   While traveling by train as a prisoner of war, Billy Pilgrim hears the bark of a dog. A simile is constructed by Vonnegut, "With the help of fear and echoes and winter silences that dog had a voice like a big bronze gong."(82). Upon reading this, I noticed the imagery that Vonnegut evokes through the simile by engaging the reader's sense of sound. The actual comparison of the dog's voice and a bronze gong presents the emotion of loneliness and the silence that generally coincides with it. Since the dog's bark was loud enough to resonate "like a big bronze gong", the reader is made aware of the silent solitude that Billy Pilgrim feels. Also, the image of "winter silences" elicits fear and a feeling of loneliness which undoubtably mirrors Billy Pilgrim's feelings as he traveled in the train. Unaware of his fate at the hands of his captors, Billy Pilgrim feels all alone which makes the simile on page 82 mean much more than just the sound of a dog barking loudly.

Chapter 3- Still an Innocent

While pondering the symbolism of the golden boots discussed in my previous blog post, I was reminded of the Taylor Swift song "Innocent". In this song, Swift tells the audience that they are still innocent despite their prior transgressions by saying, "Who you are is not where you've been. You're still an innocent.". This coincides with Billy Pilgrim's desire for innocence and purity in his life. Although Pilgrim has seen the gruesome tragedies that encompass war, he still longs for purity. Taylor Swift musicalizes this desire present in every human.

Chapter 3- Symbol

While being captured as a prisoner of war, Billy Pilgrim encounters a German commander who possesses a pair of golden calvary boots. A story is recapitulated stating that Adam and Eve could be seen in the depths of the boots when the commander polished them. Oblivious to this prior occurance, Billy Pilgrim stared into the boots and saw Adam and Eve. Naked, "They were so innocent, so vulnerable, so eager to behave decently. Billy Pilgrim loved them."(53). These boots symbolize the purity intrinsic to a part of all humans. Since both the commander and Billy Pilgrim visualized Adam and Eve in the boots, this intimates to a desire for purity within the two men. Vonnegut symbolizes the human desire for putiry through the boots by connecting them with the first and once purest humans. Also, the symbol acquires a deeper meaning since Adam and Eve were corrupted by worldly temptation as most humans are today. These temptations and imperfections of life are evident in the experience of the commander who was described to be "sick of war". Living a life of violence due to service in the armed forces, the man clings to the one article of innocence he has left, which are the boots. Through this symbol, Vonnegut shows that Billy Pilgrim strives for morality and purity despite his life of chaos and violence due to war.

Chapter 2- So it goes.

"Now, when I myself hear that somebody is dead, I simply shrug and say what the Tralfamadorians say about dead people, which is 'So it goes.'" (27)

Used frequently in chapter two, the phrase "So it goes." refers to death. For example, when talking about the death of Billy Pilgrim's father, Vonnegut writes, "His father died in a hunting accident during the war. So it goes."(24). This minute little phrase is too meaniful and too often repeated to be ignored. I believe that Vonnegut uses this phrase to illustrate the fact that every one eventually dies. Additionally, he takes this nearly passive attitude towards death as a sort of defense mechanism. "So it goes" is a way of desensitizing himself toward the reality of death. Billy Pilgrim apparently adopted this phrase from the Tralfamadorians which shows that his state of mind was influenced by what he believes to be an alien abduction. In light of this phrase, Billy's "alien abuction" might just be a peculiar interpretation of events in his life. Additionally, most people fear death; therefore, Vonnegut uses the phrase to prepare himself for his own inevitable end. Later on in Slaughterhouse Five, "so it goes" may come to symbolize something greater than what it seems in this chapter, but for now all I can say is, "So it goes.".

Chapter 2- Motivation

"He [Roland Weary] had been unpopular because he was stupid and fat and mean, and smelled like bacon no matter how much he washed." (35)

Based upon the above description, one can understand why others did not particularly want to be associated with Roland Weary.  Since Roland was always "ditched in Pittsburgh by people who did not want him with them", he would seek out a victim to befriend whom he would later beat up. This pattern can be described as motivation since Roland's motivation for beating up people stems from the detrimental impact of being constantly ditched by his peers. In order to feel powerful, Roland would victimize innocents such as Billy Pilgrim. When Roland realized that he was not included in the scout clique, the Three Musketeers, his pain morphed into violence against Billy as a form of retribution. Weary nearly shattered Pilgrim's spine until he realized that he had an audience to his odious act. Due to his negative motivation, Roland consistently transformed himself into the same being as his catalysts, a bully.

Chapter 1- War Desensitizes

                                     "Heck no...I've seen lots worse than that in the war."

While working as a police reporter, Vonnegut is exposed to many tradegies including the accidental death of a man who was squashed by a car. He is rather unaffected by this event despite the fact that he was the one who informed the deceased man's wife about the accident. When asked if the morbid incident bothered him, Vonnegut replied, " Heck no...I've seen lots worse than that in the war." (10). This particulary resonated with me because I felt sympathy toward the man and his wife; hence, I was bewildered at Vonnegut's indifference. This lead me to the conclusion that war desensitizes people, especially soldiers.
An example of similar detatchment due to violence is the pop culture phenomenon, the Hunger Games. Due to the reality of death in the Hunger Games, it can be compared to the bloodshed of war. In both situations, one fictional, the other all too real, all parties involved are desensitized to tragedy and violence.

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.