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.