Vision of Life

“And then, one morning, they got up to discover that the door was unlocked. World War two in Europe was over.” (Vonnegut 215). These were the last words of this dreadful war story.  Throughout the book, we got to discover how much war affects and changes a particular soldier, Billy.  The novel also allowed us to get in touch and learn about diverse ways of thinking, such as the trafamadoures. This way of thinking was a real eye opener and questioner of fate’s real purpose.

We were able to analyze and depict Billy’s post-war behavior throughout the book, as well as, understand his meaning of life and vision towards society. “It was a ridiculous store, all about love and babies.” (Vonnegut 203). Billy had no regard towards human emotions. He only cared about his mother’s feelings and tried very hard to hide his hatred of life from her. He wanted to spare her the pain of knowing the real interpretation his son had of the world and of his life.

In reading the novel, one is able to experience character transformation never seen before. How an Earthling could change their entire perspective of life to understand and apply a totally different one, the trafamores ideology. It was due to this transformation that Billy was able to die at peace knowing that he couldn’t stop nor control his fate.

As the book progressed, I visualized a clear pattern of how the author managed to use the term “So it goes.” This expression has countless uses.  One of them was used when referring to events that were out of human control and were unworthy of analyzing. “Martin Luther king was shot a month ago. He died.. So it goes.”(Vonnegut 210). On the other hand, this expression is also used when Billy is no longer impacted by the horrifying consequences and aftermaths of war. “On an average, 324,000 new babies are born into the world every day. During that same day, 10,000 persons, on an average, will have starved to death form malnutrition. So it goes.” (Vonnegut 212).

This book also contains various literature terms and figure like allegories along with stoicism. It depicts many impacting events and left the reader with broad-minded ideas of the world and of life in general. The novel concludes with several unanswered questions; what is the real meaning of life and is their any particular way one should perceive the world. Hence, forcing the reader to create their own answer based on their own beliefs and the impact the book had on him.

Believes

Through out the book the author has countless times addressed the Tralfamadorian model for life. How one most never fight or try to control fate, because it is way out of our reach.  The author gives various example were the Tralfamadorian simply accept fate with out resentment or angry, even if the destiny means the end of the universe.  Vonnegut did this to show the Earthlings they can’t control everything and that things simply are.

One the other hand, Vonnegut had never actually talked about any Earthling using the Tralfamadorian model to accept death. The first Earthling that used this model was, Billy Pilgrim.  Many years after the war, Billy remembered the promise that Lazzaro made to him, about killing him, to honor his friend whom Billy had killed. It was time for Lazzaro to keep his promise and it was time for Billy to accept it. He had  finished his sermon in a Basketball Park in Chicago and sent his bodyguards home, to their wife and children as he waited for his destiny.

“I, Billy Pilgrim, the tape begins, will die, have died and always will die on February thirteen, 1976.” (Vonnegut 141). When it was time for Billy to die he was at peace with himself. He learned the power of fate and knew that tomorrow he would be died, but he would eventually live again.

Violent Behavior

Through out my live I have seen a lot of post-war movies, articles and documentaries. They talk about how soldieries after being in the heart of war, they are transformed into totally different people. They become aggressive and violent in familiar environments and don’t know how to act around people. On the other hand, through out Slaughterhouse Five there had been no presences of this kind of behavior, until Paul Lazzaro was introduced.

Paul Lazzaro was put beside Billy’s bed, due to some injuries he had recently received after being  caught  stilling from an Englishman.  As they see themselves trying to burn time Lazzaro and Billy got to talk and began understanding each other. “Anybody ever asks you what the sweetest thing in life  is-”  said Lazzaro, “Is Revenge”.(Vonnegut 139).  Lazzaro was a man that did everything for a reason. He was a very little man, however made everyone aware of his power, creating respect towards him. He honored his friends and would kill anyone that would cross them or him. It was due to Lazzaro`s eagerness for revenge that Billy would be killed several years after war, due to the fact that he was responsible for the death of Lazzaro`s only friend.

Paul Lazzaro was also a very violent man. Whenever someone was to annoy or bother him, he would take pleasure on torturing him or her. He told Billy about his anecdote with a dog he had killed, because the dog had bitten him. He later confessed he was planning on using that same technique to torture the Englishman, that had physically abused him.  It was due to Paul, that I was able to see that through out the years the effects of war hasn’t change at all, and yet we have done nothing to stop it.

Honor v.s Revenge

 While reading the blog of Andre Copello “ A Shooting Disorder” a lot of thoughts rose to mind. Revenge, if a feeling that appears when people have been hurt and they were unable to protect themselves. However, Paul Lazzaro refers to it as the sweetie’s thing in the world. Why do Earthlings have the perception that in order to be honored and respected they most hurt people?

Andrea gave examples of terrible massacres that have happened in the world, where a person, believed they had the power of taking the life of many others, just to prove a point. However, there is no one in the universe that has that much power, but God. I strongly believe that it is for this moment that the author opened our eyes to the Tralfamadorian model of life, of letting fate control are life.

If Paul Lazzaro would have been able to understand the concept of, things happen for a reason, he wouldn’t of concentrate all his life trying to get revenge on others, but rather he would have enjoyed his life. Revenge is a very powerful feeling, but we most never let it take control over us.  

Reason

“..she had gone  to so much trouble to give him life, and to keep that life going, and Billy didn’t really like life at all” (Vonnegut 102) was the reason that Billy Pilgrim gave to explain why was it that every time his mother came to visit him he would always cover his face with the blankets.  However, his mother was unaware of Billy’s thoughts and prayed every night asking god to help Billy recover.  After analyzing this situation, I realized that they both tried to protect each other. While the mother only prayed for her child’s health, the son hid his face from his mother in order not to demonstrating his hatred for life to his mother.  He was aware of the fact that his mother tried her best to raise him, however, he never appreciated it.

On the other hand, I was oddly surprised to encounter the state of emotion the English prisoners where in. Even though they were living under the harsh control of Jerry they still enjoyed life by singing, laughing and eating. “The Englishmen were clean and enthusiastic and decent and strong” (Vonnegut 94 ) was the description Billy gave of the English prisoners. These prisoners seem to understand and accept war as a acceptable state of being.

Throughout the chapter the author was able to answer one of the most abstract and tortuous questions human beings come across in life. The question is: WHY?  The author addresses this question by explaining the radically different two points of view to this question: the Earthling credence and the Tralfamadorian credence. The Earthling examines the question by analyzing and determining the structure of the event, where it can be concluded what the next actions are going to be. While the Tralfamadorian are those who live the moment and accepted their destiny as it is, without questioning it. The author makes the reader understand that sometimes there is no explanation to why things happen. One must accept fate and simply be able to live life.

Empty Closet

Watching this empty page my mind went blank. As I try to remember with detail the chapter I just read, there is an image that appears over and over again. This scene occurs when Billy, unable to sleep, walks around the house and comes upon his two children’s rooms. He later remembers they are gone forever. “He went into his daughters room. Her drawers were dumped. Her closet was empty” (Vonnegut 73) This scene is a mnemonic of the pain and emptiness I felt as I waved good bye to my cousin, Martin. My cousin, my best friend, with whom I have shared my fears and dreams is gone. Who will comfort me and lend me a helping hand when I fall? He is gone on a blink of an eye leaving nothing but his memory and an empty closet behind.

As I read further into the chapter, I was impacted by one of Billy Pilgrims thoughts. “Everyone turned into baby, and all humanity, without exception, conspired biologically to produce two perfect people named Adam and Eve”(Vonnegut 75). This quote represents the idea of turning back time to when every human being was pure and good. A place where no evil crosses the human mind.

Meanings

All words have a meaning. However, does that mean they all have to be interpreted the same way. Has Billy Pilgrim and the  Tralfamadorian tried to understand each other’s worlds, they came up with the topic of time. How in  Tralfamadorian`s world there was no such thing as time, nevertheless has Billy countless times, tried to explain he was unsuccessful because there was no physical proof that time existed.

The author once again came across the beliefs of the Tralfamadorian had on fate. How even though they were fully aware how the universe was going to end, they understood there was nothing to do about it. This was because it was out of their control. Has the author countless times acknowledged and accepted the  Tralfamadorian ideals, one can easily identify that the authors has a hidden agenda were he wants the reader “ Earthlings beliefs” to understand the positive factors of letting fate control life.  An example the author uses to make readers understand his point of view was by explaining how the   Tralfamadorian got past horrible, dreadful and miserable moments. They did this by blocking them self’s from reality and focused on good memories. (Vonnegut 117)

Inspiration

 As I mentioned before, how people need to find a motivation to continue living, I came upon the stoicism that gave Billy Pilgrim inspiration to continue living. As follows:

  GOD GRANT ME

THE SERENITY TO ACCEPT                

THE THINGS I CANNOT CHANGE,

COURAGE

TO CHANGE THE THINGS I CAN,

AND WISDOM ALWAYS

TO TELL THE

DIFFERENCE.

This passage didn’t just motivate Billy, but all of those who read it. It made them realize that they couldn’t change the past, the present nor the future and that no matter what happened they had to move on. While reading this passage I was able to notice the use of stoicism. A method used to encourage soldiers during war making them lose importance of family and loved ones while teaching them that they cannot control nor stop destiny.

Instinct

This weekend my mother college roomate, Marcella Ciacci, came to visit from Panama. Over breakfast, we had a discussion of how today’s video games have implicated violence on children. She told us about the recent frightening fight her 17 year old son, Luca, was involved in. Luca, was watching a football game with some friends at a restaurant at 6pm, when suddenly he got into a disagreement with one of the boys sitting in the next table. As brawl started getting more aggressive and physical, Luca punched the boy in the face. The boys immediate and insane reaction was to grab an empty coke bottle and smash on Lucas face. Missing his eye by a miracle but leaving Luca with a deep scar on his left eyelid that required 45 stiches to fix! As I read the second part of Slaughterhouse Five, I related Lucas´terrible accident with Mary’s thoughts of how books and movies were encouraging  young children go to war. 

I Have a Dream..

Why think of thoughts that will never happen? The illusion of a perfect world, an utopia: a place with no war, with equality. Where the idea of pain and harm can only appear in nightmares. As Harrison Starr mentioned why write an anti-war book if instead you can write an anti-glacier one. The fantasy that war can be defeated only happens in fairytales. So my question is: why focus and believe on unrealistic dreams rather then try to make the truth less dreadful? The answer is motivation. People must have dreams, illusions. Dreams and goals that at the present moment might seem unreachable. However, they serve as a driving force or motivation for people to wake up every morning to work as hard as they can to reach that goal. Martin Luther King Jr. has a dream, a far fetched dream of equality for all. At the time of that unforgettable speech many thought he was crazy, unrealistic. However, history proved them wrong and today Barack Obama, is the first black president of the United States of America.

“The Perfect Life” by John Koethe

“Youth, divine treasure ”  was the first thought that came to mind while reading “The Perfect Life” by John Koethe. Youth is a state of time when one is considered full of illusion, carefree, cheerful and capable of impacting and/or changing the world. In the poem the protagonist expresses a sense of satisfaction and contentment with his present life. I visualized him as a young man that is full of illusions with ambitions of impacting his world or “little kingdom” with his powers and strengths. Almost like a super hero such as Batman or the Green lantern. However, he is well aware of the cycle of life and comprehends that time is the enemy of all his present dreams, strengths and illusions. He sadly understands that at the end his life will have very little impact on others and will simply be forgotten.

"A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world."   - Oscar Wilde