Siena Hoaglund
American Studies 1/2 + 3/4
Ivory
1/1/16
The Narrator's Acceptance of a Possible Afterlife
On the second page of chapter 10, the narrator's voice seems to shift from third person to first person to talk about an interesting analogy about what Billy has learned from the Tralfamadorians, and to tell a story about one of the narrator's happiest moments. The analogy and the memory seem to suggest a continued human existence after death, that the narrator seems to have accepted as a possible afterlife.
In the chapter we learn from the narrator that "If what Billy Pilgrim learned from the Tralfamadorians is true, that we will all live forever...I am not overjoyed. Still- if I am going to spend eternity visiting this moment and that, I'm grateful that so many of those moments are nice." (Vonnegut, 211). Although the narrator is mostly likely Kurt Vonnegut, the speaker's identity is left unspoken. However, it is clear that the speaker is not pleased about revisiting memories after death, but some part of them still believes this to be a possible afterlife. They are able to accept that possibility, by reminding themselves that they have had mostly nice memories. The speaker then goes on to talk about their happiest memory, that they clearly wouldn't mind re-visiting.
Many authors, like Kurt Vonnegut, will change the point of view in their writing, to reflect on something that has happened in their story, as a way to reinforce a point in the reader's mind. A great example of this would be in the book Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion. In this book the main character "R" has been turned into a zombie. Despite being dead, he gets to fall in love with living girl named Julie, who slowly turns him back into a human. The whole book is written in R's point of view, except for two paragraphs in the last chapter of the book, that talk in third person about the R's children. The narrator gives the children the full scale of emotions when they get to see their father again and their new step mother. The author added these two paragraphs to reinforce the point that R loved his family, and his love for family is what brought him back to life.
I wonder if Vonnegut added in the first person shift as a way to reinforce a point in his story like Isaac Marion did, or if was simple a way to explain the narrator's thought's about what Billy learned from the Tralfamadorians.
Friday, January 1, 2016
The Significance Behind "So it goes."
Siena Hoaglund
American Studies 1/2 + 3/4 B
Ivory
1/1/16
The Significance Behind "So it goes."
To anyone who has read the book Slaughterhouse Five, it is obvious that the author says the phrase "So it goes" to explain when someone in the story has died, quite often. The frequency of the phrase displays to the reader the depressing commonality of death during World War II, but also shows the narrator's sort of disbelief of the concept of death.
The phrase "So it goes" is stated when Billy's friends or family die, it's stated when lice or other bugs die, and it's even stated when the idea of a "real soldier" is considered dead. The phrase is put in place to compare the commonality of death in Billy's life to the commonality of the death during World War II. Every small thing that dies in the book, is symbolic to every person who died during the war.
However, the quote "Now, when I myself hear that somebody is dead, I simply shrug and say what the Tralfamadorains say about dead people, which is 'So it goes.' " (Vonnegut, 27) shows that the narrator doesn't quite believe in the concept of death. The Tralfamadorains have taught him that when someone dies in one time, they are still alive in another time. The narrator's use of the phrase "So it goes" can be their way of saying that the person that was previously stated as dead, may not actually be dead, but alive in another time period.
This concept of a never ending life is romanticized in the quote "Goodbyes are not forever, are not the end; it simply means I'll miss you until we meet again." (Unknown).
I wonder, if Vonnegut was still alive, what he would say was his reason behind the frequency of the phrase "So it goes". Did he use it just to explain when something died? Did he use it as a way to compare the commonality of death in Billy's life to the commonality of the death during World War II? Or, did he use it to explain that he doesn't believe in the concept of death?
American Studies 1/2 + 3/4 B
Ivory
1/1/16
The Significance Behind "So it goes."
To anyone who has read the book Slaughterhouse Five, it is obvious that the author says the phrase "So it goes" to explain when someone in the story has died, quite often. The frequency of the phrase displays to the reader the depressing commonality of death during World War II, but also shows the narrator's sort of disbelief of the concept of death.
The phrase "So it goes" is stated when Billy's friends or family die, it's stated when lice or other bugs die, and it's even stated when the idea of a "real soldier" is considered dead. The phrase is put in place to compare the commonality of death in Billy's life to the commonality of the death during World War II. Every small thing that dies in the book, is symbolic to every person who died during the war.
However, the quote "Now, when I myself hear that somebody is dead, I simply shrug and say what the Tralfamadorains say about dead people, which is 'So it goes.' " (Vonnegut, 27) shows that the narrator doesn't quite believe in the concept of death. The Tralfamadorains have taught him that when someone dies in one time, they are still alive in another time. The narrator's use of the phrase "So it goes" can be their way of saying that the person that was previously stated as dead, may not actually be dead, but alive in another time period.
This concept of a never ending life is romanticized in the quote "Goodbyes are not forever, are not the end; it simply means I'll miss you until we meet again." (Unknown).
I wonder, if Vonnegut was still alive, what he would say was his reason behind the frequency of the phrase "So it goes". Did he use it just to explain when something died? Did he use it as a way to compare the commonality of death in Billy's life to the commonality of the death during World War II? Or, did he use it to explain that he doesn't believe in the concept of death?
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