He knew he was going crazy when he heard himself proposing marriage to her, when he begged her to take the diamond ring and be his companion for life, (ibid p.107).
However, he was trapped in his life, for better or worse, such as the fact that Billy knew when he would be killed, yet didn't try to do anything about it. His death is compared with mankind's fate.
At one point Billy discusses the problem of war with the Tralfamadorians (p.117). They tell him that war is inevitable and he is stupid to try to change it. Humanity is trapped in his human nature, to create war and wreak death. Some people want peace, but they are naive and are unaware of human nature. Humans are aware of their nature, but is helpless to do anything about it, being "stuck in amber."
There are few characters in this story, and almost no dramatic confrontations, because most of the people in it are sick and the unwitting ploys of violent forces (Vonnegut 1969 p.164).
Vonnegut explains that there are no soldiers. There are only men, but never soldiers. A soldier is not a human being, whereas a man is. Vonnegut expresses this most obviously when he tells about the time Billy was imprisoned in Dresden:
When the three fools found the communal kitchen, whose main job was to make lunch for workers in the slaughterhouse, everybody had gone home but one woman who had been waiting for them impatiently. She was a war widow. So it goes. She had her hat and coat on. She wanted to go home, too, even though there wasn't anybody there. Her white gloves were laid out side by side on the zinc counter top. She had two big cans of soup for the Americans. It was simmering over low fires on the gas range. She had stacks of loaves of black bread, too. She asked Gluck if he wasn't awfully young to be in the army. He admitted that he was. She asked Edgar Derby if he wasn't awfully old to be in the army. He said he was. She asked Billy Pilgrim what he was supposed to be. Billy said he didn't know. He was just trying to keep warm.
All the real soldiers are dead,' she said. It was true. So it goes, (Vonnegut 1969 p.159).
Vonnegut realizes that a soldier is not human and therefore he cannot exist. Humans...
The author even inserts himself as a character throughout key events, such as the latrine at the POW camp and digging in the corpse mines in Dresden. The insertions serve to remind the reader that though fiction, the events described in the novel actually happened, to people like Billy Pilgrim/Kurt Vonnegut. However, Vonnegut also uses several techniques not found in the works of noted memoir writers such as Tobias Wolff
The best evidence for this suffusion in the author's own life is in the final chapter, when the main character/author returns in full force. Traveling peacefully and happily in a plane above Berlin, during a moment he considers "one of the nicest ones in recent times" (Vonnegut, p. 211), removed in time and space from Dresden, Vonnegut "imagined dropping bombs on those lights, those villages and cities and towns," (Vonnegut,
I enjoyed Vonnegut's commentary on the strangeness of humankind's foibles and I was not shocked by some of his matter-of-fact depictions. Indeed, when Vonnegut draws on his own real-life experiences, the novel takes on an air of authenticity. This authenticity coupled with Vonnegut's wry, black humor makes the novel seem caustic and ironic, but at heart it is neither -- it is simply a record of things both real and
Through his experiences and adventures, Billy becomes a symbol more than a mere character. He obviously has more insight into how things truly are, than the rest of the characters in the book. Not accidentally, Billy becomes unstuck in time precisely during the Second World War, hinting thus at the need to escape the imminence of death as a constantly pending menace: "The Tralfamadorians didn't have anything to do
The failed quest of Vonnegut the character underlines another important theme of the novel -- although life may seem 'fated' as Pilgrim perceives it to be, our own perceptions affect how we see our past and reconstruct the past. Our minds are erasers, always writing and rewriting events. Our perception of time is highly personalized. For example, Vonnegut the character is surprised that his old friend Bernard has changed
Interviewer Good morning Mr. Vonnegut! First of all, I would like to thank you for giving me this wonderful opportunity of having to interview you! Vonnegut Good morning to you too! It's actually my honor and pleasure to be interviewed by a popular columnist like you. I hope this will not be the last. Interviewer Oh certainly Kurt. I am a very good fan of yours. In fact, I have read a lot of your
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