By: Kurt Vonnegut
1. First of all this book is written out of order and everything is happening all at once. The story begins with Vonnegut expressing his times in World War II, which was absolutely brutal and ineluctable. Basically, this should be considered the introduction of the story since the plot revolves around the life and experiences of Billy Pilgrim. For this summary, the events will be order, but in the book they are not in order once so ever. Billy is portrayed as young man, who was completely not ready to be a soldier. He was confused on what to do or what was going on. In addition, he was sent to the Battle of the Bulge even though he had barely any training. During that battle, he is in a pure state of bewilderment and ends up running into enemy land. While on enemy ground, he is helped by an American recruit named Roland Weary, who was an abusive individual and even tried to murder Billy since he thought Billy didn't care about saving his own life during the battle. Soon, the two men are captured and Roland Weary ends up dying in jail, which he blames Billy for since he believed that Billy was the one who got them into prison. Once Billy arrives to the prison, he notices how the captured soldiers were fed well and in shape. While in prison, Billy meets Edgar Derby (a teacher, who was injured) and Paul Lazzaro, who is completely crazy and threatens to have Billy killed since he believes that Billy just let Weary die without trying to help him. Billy and Derby are then sent to another prison located in an abandoned slaughterhouse in Dresden (a direct connection with the title and the story). During that same period of time, Dresden is bombed by American forces, so the town is demolished. After all of the bombing, Billy and a few others has to dig themselves out of the remains of the city in order to survive and it was Billy, who had to pick up all of the corpses.Once the war finally ended, Billy was released and returned to the United States to be a teacher once again. He soon becomes engaged to a woman named Valencia and later has a mental breakdown, which causes him to be go to a hospital and is helped (kinda). As years go by, Billy ends up having a one daughter and one son named Barbara and Robert. Billy then ends up being in a plane crash and everyone dies except for him, but he got a bad head fracture. While recovering, Valencia dies in her car for carbon monoxide poisoning, which is heartbreaking. Billy soon begins to talk to the local news about how he was abducted by aliens from the planet Tramlfamadore. The biggest lesson he learned from them was about time and how there are four dimensions that are a part of our vision. Time will be the same whether that moment is in the past, present, or future. This is why the novel is written in pieces because of this Tralfamadorian way of thought. Think of it as puzzle pieces that scattered everywhere and even though they are not connected, yet they still form one big picture. The story ends with the opening of stable doors since they were sent there after Billy had cleaned up all the dead bodies in Dresden to burn.
2. Themes:
-War: This book doesn't glorify war once so ever and shows how bad war can truly be such as being a prisoner spending each and every day having no idea what is going to come at you next.
-Time: Time is a huge theme in this book, which is seen by the lack of order and the Tralfamadorian way of thought. Textural evidence of this theme are "There is no beginning, no middle, no end, no suspense, no moral, no causes, no effects. What we love in our books are the depths of many marvelous moments seen all at once time." and "All time is all time. Its does not change. It does not lend itself to warnings or explanations. It simply is. Take it moment by moment, and you will find that we are all, as I've said before, bugs in amber."
-Free-will:As a prisoner, Billy had no choice on what he could and couldn't do. He believes free-will is nothing and the future can't be changed, which is why he always says "so it goes" because he feels like nothing he can't do anything to change or alter time.
3. The tone of the narrator lacks emotions and often focuses more on the details. Now, we, as readers, see the narrator express some emotions especially when discussing war due to the fact that he is talking about his own personal experiences.
Examples:
-"How nice--to feel nothing, and still get full credit for being alive."
-"All tis happened, more or less."
-"People aren't supposed to look back. I'm certainly not going to do it... anymore."
4. Literary Techniques and Devices:
-" The view was still blocked by an venetian blind, which he hoisted clatteringly. Bright sunlight came crashing in." (pg.72) This quote shows the usage on imagery in this story due to the the fact that it allows the story to be better seen and understood by the audience.
-"Their bellies and upper arms were like washboards." (pg.119) This quote shows the usage of similes to create comparisons that provide a new point of view and understanding.
-"The Germans carried the corpse out. The corpse was Wild Bob. So it goes" (pg.88) This quote expresses the tone of the narrator and how he lacks free-will to change his future.
-"Hooray for the good people of Genoa." (pg.21) This quote expresses a tone of sarcasm within the story since the narrator was discussing how good the children had it while in Genoa for the slave ships.
-"--and that their pathway was one of blood and tears." (pg.20) This quote is used to elicit pathos from the audience and get them to connect with the story on an emotional level.
-"So it goes" (pg. 253 and various other pages) This quote alludes to the idea that their is no way to change the future and what will happen, will happen whether you like it or not.
- This book is a satire, which is show when the narrator brings up the book called The Gutless Wonder because the particular books makes fun of Human actions and behaviors.
-An example of irony is when Edgar Derby is killed due to the fact that he stole a tea pot after the bombing of Dresden, which left the city in ruins. "One guy I knew was shot in Dresden for taking a teapot that wasn't his."
-"So it goes" (refer to pages above) This quote also is an example of the narrator's dark humor since he used the line when ever anyone died or something absolutely tragic happened.
-"Poo-tee-weet?" (pg.275) This is an example of onomatopoeia and also causes the reader to think about how life would be like after the war had ended.
2. Themes:
-War: This book doesn't glorify war once so ever and shows how bad war can truly be such as being a prisoner spending each and every day having no idea what is going to come at you next.
-Time: Time is a huge theme in this book, which is seen by the lack of order and the Tralfamadorian way of thought. Textural evidence of this theme are "There is no beginning, no middle, no end, no suspense, no moral, no causes, no effects. What we love in our books are the depths of many marvelous moments seen all at once time." and "All time is all time. Its does not change. It does not lend itself to warnings or explanations. It simply is. Take it moment by moment, and you will find that we are all, as I've said before, bugs in amber."
-Free-will:As a prisoner, Billy had no choice on what he could and couldn't do. He believes free-will is nothing and the future can't be changed, which is why he always says "so it goes" because he feels like nothing he can't do anything to change or alter time.
3. The tone of the narrator lacks emotions and often focuses more on the details. Now, we, as readers, see the narrator express some emotions especially when discussing war due to the fact that he is talking about his own personal experiences.
Examples:
-"How nice--to feel nothing, and still get full credit for being alive."
-"All tis happened, more or less."
-"People aren't supposed to look back. I'm certainly not going to do it... anymore."
4. Literary Techniques and Devices:
-" The view was still blocked by an venetian blind, which he hoisted clatteringly. Bright sunlight came crashing in." (pg.72) This quote shows the usage on imagery in this story due to the the fact that it allows the story to be better seen and understood by the audience.
-"Their bellies and upper arms were like washboards." (pg.119) This quote shows the usage of similes to create comparisons that provide a new point of view and understanding.
-"The Germans carried the corpse out. The corpse was Wild Bob. So it goes" (pg.88) This quote expresses the tone of the narrator and how he lacks free-will to change his future.
-"Hooray for the good people of Genoa." (pg.21) This quote expresses a tone of sarcasm within the story since the narrator was discussing how good the children had it while in Genoa for the slave ships.
-"--and that their pathway was one of blood and tears." (pg.20) This quote is used to elicit pathos from the audience and get them to connect with the story on an emotional level.
-"So it goes" (pg. 253 and various other pages) This quote alludes to the idea that their is no way to change the future and what will happen, will happen whether you like it or not.
- This book is a satire, which is show when the narrator brings up the book called The Gutless Wonder because the particular books makes fun of Human actions and behaviors.
-An example of irony is when Edgar Derby is killed due to the fact that he stole a tea pot after the bombing of Dresden, which left the city in ruins. "One guy I knew was shot in Dresden for taking a teapot that wasn't his."
-"So it goes" (refer to pages above) This quote also is an example of the narrator's dark humor since he used the line when ever anyone died or something absolutely tragic happened.
-"Poo-tee-weet?" (pg.275) This is an example of onomatopoeia and also causes the reader to think about how life would be like after the war had ended.
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