Slaughterhouse-Five Chapter 7 Post 1 of 2

     The book's main character Billy Pilgrim presents characterization in a new light. This round character, which has multiple dimensions to his personality, is described in the novel by four points: the three spatial dimensions and time. Vonnegut not only describes how Billy is, but when he is like that. This full understanding of Billy Pilgrim as a whole gives him the depth to be a round character. What bolsters his identity is Pilgrim's time tripping. Zipping in and out of periods of time gives the reader a full understanding of Pilgrim and his many dimensions. In chapter seven, "he dreamed millions of things, some of them true. The true things were time-travel," (Vonnegut, 157). Pilgrim's rapid trips through time after the plane crash allow for, in one chapter, the reader to get a good horizon on Billy's round character qualities and compile them to start to understand this character.

Slaughterhouse-Five Chapter 6 Post 2 of 2

      Billy Pilgrim wakes up in chapter six after spending the night pumped up on morphine. He awakes very fatigued and sore, but he feels a strange "pull" coming behind him. Pilgrim describes it as, "animal magnetism which made him shiver and itch," (Vonnegut, 136). This odd description of "animal magnetism" gives it the feel of a living power. The lumps were pea-shaped and a small horseshoe shape. This new discoveries bring up many questions since they "could work miracles for him." The only catch around them is that he could not inquire what these beastly objects were.
      The lumps in Billy's coat are put there by Vonnegut for more of a morality lesson rather than usefulness. Not able to inquire about the living, animal trinkets makes for a very inhuman response from Billy who is complacent with not knowing. Even today, all living things share a curiosity as an inborn instinct. Vonnegut describes the forces like an animal; however, these lumps require oneself to destroy the living or beastly quality of curiosity and knowledge. The polarity and contradiction associated with the lumps in Billy's coat makes one wonder if it is better to break the rules to discover the truth.

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.

Slaughterhouse-Five Chapter 5 Post 2 of 2

       Kurt Vonnegut as the author of Slaughterhouse-Five has done something extremely rare to see in a non-autobiographical piece: he has made himself a character in his own book. Not as the main character, Vonnegut put himself as a minor character that often finds himself in very unfavorable situations. In the later half of chapter five, Vonnegut appears, "excreting everything but his brains;" then addresses himself saying, "That was I. That was me. That was the author of this book," (Vonnegut, 125). 
      Vonnegut places himself in this book because its themes and story line share a strong connection to his life. In all the accounts of war, Vonnegut is speaking of his own experiences of war. Interestingly, Vonnegut has Billy Pilgrim be the main character of this book, while he only inserts himself in small pockets. Vonnegut was the drunken caller with the mustard gas breath and then again here in chapter five as a sickly fool in a latrine. 

Slaughterhouse-Five Chapter 5 Post 1 of 2

    Slaughterhouse-Five presents an ongoing and very important motif throughout the novel but which going  mainly in chapter five. A motif is a recurring phrase or idea used throughout a work, unifying the current situation to previous ones, or new ideas to a theme. In Slaughterhouse, the motif present is "so it goes." Learned from the Tralfamadorians, Pilgrim then incorporates this into his own thinking. The motif is exemplified in this excerpt, "Before they got their names and numbers in that book, they were missing in action and probably dead. So it goes," (Vonnegut, 91).
    The "so it goes" mentality really advocates that the deceased is only dead in that point in time because that is how it is structured. In other fragments of their life and in time, they are alive. The Tralfamadorians do not get sad about this because the understand this way of thinking. This motif really connects with the theme of free will. Saying "so it goes" is basically saying that that is how destiny goes and their is nothing one can do to break the mold or change it. This connection makes it a substantial motif in Slaughterhouse-Five. 

Slaughterhouse-Five Chapter 4 Post 2 of 2

      Chapter four opens with Billy Pilgrim wandering around his house at night and the phone ringing: "Billy answered. There was a drunk on the other end. Billy could almost smell his breath-- mustard gas and roses. It was the wrong number," (Vonnegut, 73). This familiar mustard gas and rose combination comes back from chapter one. In fact, the drunk seems to align with Vonnegut from chapter one. Vonnegut makes drunken calls at night and Billy received one on this night of his kidnapping. Pilgrim said that he could almost smell mustard gas and roses. This odd combination seems to have a greater significance then a breath description.

      The mustard gas, which is used as a chemical weapon, highlights the war part of the novel. The roses seem to draw in a gentle, even romantic ties. With both of these infused in Vonnegut, the drunk's, breath, it shows that the war has affected his life deeply. In addition, it also has affected his relationship and family.  

     

Slaughterhouse-Five Chapter 4 Post 1 of 2

       In chapter four, a very accurate and interesting analogy is made. The analogy, a comparison made between two things to show their similarity, is made between Pilgrim's time jumping and a blob of amber. The Tralfamadorians say that the moment in time Pilgrim is like a bug in amber; it simply exists. When the aliens say, "It does not change. It does not lend itself to warnings or explanations. It simply is. Take it moment by moment, and you will find that we are all, as I've said before, bugs in amber," (Vonnegut, 86), it clearly depicts the analogy Vonnegut had procured in this literary work. The structure that is time, and everything moving along within it, simply exists, different at every moment.