Slaughterhouse-Five Chapter 6 Post 1 of 2

      Chapter five of Slaughterhouse really starts to get heavy within the plot and brings up a very interesting allusion. An allusion is a, often indirect, reference to someone or something that is known from history, literature, religion, politics, or other branch of culture. In Slaughterhouse-Five, the allusion is brought by the odd, magical lumps in Pilgrim's coat. The lumps allude to the biblical story of Lot's wife from chapter one. Vonnegut read the Gideon Bible and about the destruction of Gomorrah and Sodom which spoke of Lot's wife's actions and conviction. In the biblical story, Lot's wife is able to take a lasting glance at the destruction of the cities but only to be turned into a pillar of salt. Lot's wife knows the punishment but looks back anyway. A counterpoint to this is Billy Pilgrim. He was directed not to look at the magnetizing lumps and was O.K. with that. At first discovery, "He was told not to find out what the lumps were...they could work miracles for him, provided he did not insist on learning their nature. That was all right with Billy Pilgrim," (Vonnegut, 137) The event of the lumps alludes back to this biblical story.