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.