AUTHOR: Kurt Vonnegut
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TIME: April 2009
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NOTES:
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I was going to cheat and do research before writing my notes but I decided that it would be against the spirit of my blog. So instead, I want to begin by confessing that I don't get it. The book was funny but it was also terribly sad. It was written by a man who actually survived the bombing of Dresden in WWII (more deaths than both A-bombs combined). I am used too books that contain a thread of hope but I am having trouble finding the thread in this read. I will offer a brief summary of its contents and I will try to express some of my thoughts but I would love to have comments from others who have read this book... maybe someone out there gleaned better than I did. I feel like a deep and heavy thing is in the book but I don't know what it is.
.
The main character's name is Billy Pilgrim and I am certain that his last name is symbolic. Early on we find out that Billy has been dislodged from time. He travels through time involuntarily (Time Travellers wife?) visiting moments in his own life: past, present, and future. We also know that Billy is an optometrist which is another symbolic item as he inadvertently talks about the difference in importance between a frame and lenses. Also, he sees it as his task to 'correct the worlds vision concerning time'.
.
While abducted by Aliens he learns of a fourth dimension which we are told is incomprehensible to the human mind. In a four dimensional view all moments are simultaneously viewable and present. So the Aliens see the stars in a series of moments which produces a spaghetti of light as opposed to the dots that we see. They are also fatalists; they believe that all moments are set and unchangeable. This means that they know about every disaster before it happens but they make no effort to avert them. Similarly, Billy's time travelling privileges him with future information but the events always happen just the same anyway. It should be known that Billy does not lead an average life. He was a low ranking American officer in WWII and he was captured and shipped via train to Dresden where he, like his creator, survived the bombing.
.
During his POW moments we are privy to gruesome scenes of crowded train cars reeking of human waste, death's by firing squad, the loss of dignity, hatred, brutality and infighting even amongst the POW's. The vision of war we are handed is gross and cruel (especially concerning the American troops... the Russians, Germans, and English are painted slightly brighter). Furthermore, Billy's understanding of time causes him to seem cold and callous as he repeats the phrase, 'so it goes' following every death in the book. He, like the Alien's doesn't see death as such a bad thing because everyone will die and death does not mean the end as the person continues to exist in other moments simultaneously.
.
In Billy's other moments we discover that he weds a women that he describes as being overweight and constantly eating. He does not find her attractive but he knows from his time travel that she will be bearable for life. His interactions with women throughout time are colorful as well. He accidentally walks in on a room of teen girls in Dresden while they are showering only to help dig their corpses out of Dresden's rubble following the fire bombing. He also goes to a porn/novelty shop where he notices that everyone has a 'hard on' but he is not interested in the smut, he is interested in science fiction novels by an unsuccessful writer. While in the alien zoo he has a baby with a well known actress who was also abducted, and finally he is shown a photograph of a woman and a horse attempting intercourse by several people during the book. The imagery around sex in the book is similar to the imagery of war. Billy paints a 'so it goes' picture but the reader is often taken aback and even a little disgusted by the treatment of sex a an act devoid of love, peddled in smut shops, and put on display in Alien zoo's.
.
After reading the book I am not sure what to think of Billy Pilgrim and his story. I know that he found himself silently sobbing at certain moments and that seems to be the tone of the story. I felt sad after it was all said and done. Billy seems to say that nothing really matters. No matter what we do the end result is the same. Anyway, the last sentence in the book is: "One bird said to Billy Pilgrim, "Poo-tee-weet?" and I ask the same question of the last sentence as I did of the whole book: "what does it mean?"
.
TIME: April 2009
.
NOTES:
.
I was going to cheat and do research before writing my notes but I decided that it would be against the spirit of my blog. So instead, I want to begin by confessing that I don't get it. The book was funny but it was also terribly sad. It was written by a man who actually survived the bombing of Dresden in WWII (more deaths than both A-bombs combined). I am used too books that contain a thread of hope but I am having trouble finding the thread in this read. I will offer a brief summary of its contents and I will try to express some of my thoughts but I would love to have comments from others who have read this book... maybe someone out there gleaned better than I did. I feel like a deep and heavy thing is in the book but I don't know what it is.
.
The main character's name is Billy Pilgrim and I am certain that his last name is symbolic. Early on we find out that Billy has been dislodged from time. He travels through time involuntarily (Time Travellers wife?) visiting moments in his own life: past, present, and future. We also know that Billy is an optometrist which is another symbolic item as he inadvertently talks about the difference in importance between a frame and lenses. Also, he sees it as his task to 'correct the worlds vision concerning time'.
.
While abducted by Aliens he learns of a fourth dimension which we are told is incomprehensible to the human mind. In a four dimensional view all moments are simultaneously viewable and present. So the Aliens see the stars in a series of moments which produces a spaghetti of light as opposed to the dots that we see. They are also fatalists; they believe that all moments are set and unchangeable. This means that they know about every disaster before it happens but they make no effort to avert them. Similarly, Billy's time travelling privileges him with future information but the events always happen just the same anyway. It should be known that Billy does not lead an average life. He was a low ranking American officer in WWII and he was captured and shipped via train to Dresden where he, like his creator, survived the bombing.
.
During his POW moments we are privy to gruesome scenes of crowded train cars reeking of human waste, death's by firing squad, the loss of dignity, hatred, brutality and infighting even amongst the POW's. The vision of war we are handed is gross and cruel (especially concerning the American troops... the Russians, Germans, and English are painted slightly brighter). Furthermore, Billy's understanding of time causes him to seem cold and callous as he repeats the phrase, 'so it goes' following every death in the book. He, like the Alien's doesn't see death as such a bad thing because everyone will die and death does not mean the end as the person continues to exist in other moments simultaneously.
.
In Billy's other moments we discover that he weds a women that he describes as being overweight and constantly eating. He does not find her attractive but he knows from his time travel that she will be bearable for life. His interactions with women throughout time are colorful as well. He accidentally walks in on a room of teen girls in Dresden while they are showering only to help dig their corpses out of Dresden's rubble following the fire bombing. He also goes to a porn/novelty shop where he notices that everyone has a 'hard on' but he is not interested in the smut, he is interested in science fiction novels by an unsuccessful writer. While in the alien zoo he has a baby with a well known actress who was also abducted, and finally he is shown a photograph of a woman and a horse attempting intercourse by several people during the book. The imagery around sex in the book is similar to the imagery of war. Billy paints a 'so it goes' picture but the reader is often taken aback and even a little disgusted by the treatment of sex a an act devoid of love, peddled in smut shops, and put on display in Alien zoo's.
.
After reading the book I am not sure what to think of Billy Pilgrim and his story. I know that he found himself silently sobbing at certain moments and that seems to be the tone of the story. I felt sad after it was all said and done. Billy seems to say that nothing really matters. No matter what we do the end result is the same. Anyway, the last sentence in the book is: "One bird said to Billy Pilgrim, "Poo-tee-weet?" and I ask the same question of the last sentence as I did of the whole book: "what does it mean?"
