Chapter 9

"The trunk and fenders were collapsed. The gaping trunk looked like the mouth of a village idiot who was explaining that he didn't know anything about anything. The fenders shrugged. The bumper was at a high port arms. "Reagan for President! a sticker on the bumper said. The back window was veined with cracks. The exhaust system rested on the pavement" (Vonnegut 182-183).

The image I chose is that of a "Reagan for President" bumper sticker similar to the one on Valencia's car.his bumper sticker is mentioned in the detailed description of the way the car looked after the accident.

When I read this passage, I was drawn to the way that Vonnegut described the car after the crash. His description uses a simile and personification, through phrases like "The gaping trunk looked like the mouth of a village idiot who was explaining that he didn't know anything" (182) and "The fenders shrugged" (182). Also, Vonnegut's choice of wording is rather impressive. When Vonnegut writes "The exhaust system rested on the pavement" (183), it gives one the image of a tired exhaust system looking so happy to finally be able to stop working and to sit on the pavement. I was very impressed that everything Vonnegut writes about the state of the car manages to give the distinct impression that the car is tired and uncaring.

Chapter 10

"Somewhere in there the poor old high school teacher, Edgar Derby, was caught with a teapot he had taken from the catacombs. He was arrested for plundering. He was tried and shot. So it goes" (Vonnegut 214).

The image I used in this blog is that of a fancy teapot, similar to the teapot Edgar Derby takes from the catacombs. The quote I chose focuses on this teapot, and the consequences Derby faced for taking it.

When I read this quote, I was shocked by the extremity of the punishment Derby receives (death). After all of the death that everyone (including the German soldiers) had witnessed with the bombing of Dresden, I have difficulty imagining how they could possibly stomach even more death, even if Derby's manner of death was not quite as gruesome as the deaths of all the others. It was amazing that Derby got such an extreme punishment for such a small act of "plundering," especially when Derby only took one item, and it was not something of excessive value. There were so many other punishments that the Germans could have easily decided to use on Derby that excluded death, yet they chose to shoot and kill him. The fact that they were willing to see another person die indicates just how involved in the war they truly were, even if most of the German soldiers that Billy encountered were old men or young boys, neither of which had not seen much action throughout the war.

Chapter 8

"Billy had a wonderful collection of cufflinks. It was the custom of the family to give him cufflinks on every Father's Day. He was wearing Father's Day cufflinks now. They had cost over one hundred dollars" (Vonnegut 175).

The image I used is that of a set of cufflinks. This image relates to my quote because my quote is discussing the expensive cufflinks that Billy has as Father's Day gifts.

When I first read this quote, I was struck by how wasteful the purchases seemed. If the cufflinks Billy is wearing, and they "cost over one hundred dollars," then his family had probably spent at least a thousand dollars on cufflinks, which are not even worn for most occasions. With this scene, Vonnegut is making a point of how wasteful many people with an abundance of wealth can be. Vonnegut never mentions anything about Billy's family giving money to people in need, or acknowledging the poor in some way, yet he often describes Billy's family as a group of people who spend a great deal of money. The cufflinks are simply an example of that.

Chapter 7

"The spoon was a tablespoon. Billy thrust it into the vat, turned it around and around, making a gooey lollipop. He thrust it into his mouth. A moment went by, and then every cell in Billy's body shook him with ravenous gratitude and applause" (Vonnegut 160).

The image I used is that of a tablespoon full of syrup, which corresponds to my quote. In the quote I chose, Billy and the other prisoners-of-war keep sneaking spoonfuls of malt syrup meant for pregnant women from the factory, and Billy eats a spoonful of the syrup.

Something about this quote intrigued me in regards to the description Vonnegut provides of Billy's reaction to the syrup. The fact that Billy and the other men are so deprived of nutrients that they are willing to eat the syrup meant for pregnant women shows what a terrible condition they are in, and the fact that Billy's body shakes with "gratitude and applause" shows just how important those nutrients are. The entire scene also exemplifies the state of mind that the prisoners-of-ware were in, and how they put their own needs above the rules ("Spooning was a crime").

Chapter 6

"As they neared the theater, they came upon an Englishman who was hacking a groove in the Earth with the heel of his boot. He was marking the boundary between the American and English sections of the compound. Billy and Lazzaro and Derby didn't have to ask what the line meant. It was a familiar symbol, from childhood" (Vonnegut 144).

In the quotation I chose, Vonnegut describes a line drawn in the Earth to divide the American and English sections of the compound. My image also shows a line drawn rather unevenly in the Earth.

In my picture, there is literally a line drawn in the dirt, just like in the beginning of the passage. But at the end of the passage, when Vonnegut writes "It was a familiar symbol, from childhood," I was drawn away from the the literal idea of a line in the dirt and towards the idea that everywhere in life there are boundaries. Whether they are literal boundaries such as fences or walls, or they are personal boundaries, such as knowing what not to say at certain times, people are constantly encountering lines that they cannot or will not cross. The real challenges arrive when one must decide whether to cross the line and take a risk, or to respect the boundary and walk away. In the case of the Englishmen and Americans, they chose to respect the line in the dirt. But it does lead any readers of Slaughterhouse-Five such as myself to wonder if and how Billy might cross the line in the future, and what those consequences will be. Hopefully, later chapters of the novel will explore such a possibility as this.

Chapter 5

  

"The flaw in the Christ stories, said the visitor from outer space, was that Christ, who didn't look like much, was actually the Son of the Most Powerful Being in the Universe. Readers understood that, so, when they came to the crucifixion, they naturally thought...Oh, boy—they sure picked the wrong guy to lynch that time! And that thought had a brother:  "There are right people to lynch." Who? People not well connected. So it goes" (Vonnegut 109).

In the quotation, Vonnegut is explaining the concept from Billy's roommate Rosewater's science fiction book, The Gospel from Outer Space. The book focuses on Christ, and the way he ended up crucified. My picture reflects this idea, as it is Christ nailed to the crucifix

Although I was not very fond of this section of the story (or this chapter in general), I was somewhat intrigued by the idea that how connected someone is can alter people's motives and actions. Having read this, I now see the logic in the idea, and I recognize that people often consider something to be right or wrong based on one's social connections. During the time when African Americans were being lynched in the south, the were not fairly judged based on their actions. The important thing to the lynchers was that the person being lynched was nobody to them, so they saw that person as the "right person" to lynch. Whereas, had someone with connections and importance to them been caught committing the same crime (or alleged crime) as the African American, that person was almost certain not to be lynched because of their connections. Also, one of the remarkable things about the story of Jesus is that there are occasions when he had the opportunity to make powerful connections, but he chose not to. He was able to see past the acclaimed importance of connections, and to recognize that in reality, connections can only take one so far in life, and that everything beyond them is something that one must come to terms with on their own.

Chapter 4

"...half a bottle of champagne [was] on the kitchen table...'Drink me,' it seemed to say" (Vonnegut 73).

I chose a picture of a champagne bottle because the quote is talking about champagne. The particular bottle in my photograph looks to be a bit on the fancier side, which would make it a bit more appealing to the consumer.

I chose this quote because I liked the line "'Drink me,' it seemed to say." As soon as I read this line, I was immediately reminded of Alice in Wonderland, where she encounters the bottle labeled "drink me" that makes her shrink. Even though Alice did not know that the contents of the bottle would change her size when she first drank it, she was willing to take the risk. In Slaughterhouse-Five, Billy is somewhat aware that soon after he drinks the champagne, the saucer will come. However, he does not quite know what to expect. Even though his drinking of the champagne does not directly correlate to his experience in the saucer the way Alice's drinking from the bottle directly correlates to her change in size, both experiences can be said to be examples of a willingness to take risks, even when one is not quite sure where those risks will take them.