Slaughterhouse Nine is written in a circular pattern because it keeps alternating through Billy's life. The story also keeps alternating between his time as a prisoner of war in World War II, and multiple periods of his life after the war, such as his time captive on Tralfamador. Also in the first chapter at the end it says "It begins like this: Listen: Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time. It ends like this: Poo-tee-weet?" (Vonnegut 28), which shows the circular pattern and its lack of a strictly linear narrative by telling how it begins and ends. The overall structure of the novel is circular, but it is a bit erratic as there does not seem to be a pattern when the story is jumping around.
At first it does not seem that Billy matures much throughout the novel, as he remains his dim, clueless self, but after his time in the war he is committed to an institution because he is suffering from trauma from the war, and after his kidnapping by the Tralfamadorians he seems to overcome this with a new perspective on death. This seems to be catharsis for him as it allows him to be happy and not worry or fear about his death despite knowing exactly when it is going to happen. The jumping around from moment to moment could be a metaphor for having PTSD and flashbacks, and is what propels the story rather than character development, as there is no continuity between events due to the nature of it jumping about.
Sunday, November 20, 2016
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Blog Post 11
The Tralfamadorian concepts of time and death are that time is a physical dimension like forwards and backwards, and can be viewed from multiple angles and as single moments, instead of a continuously advancing line. Since every moment happened at some point in time, its permanent, instead of temporary, as it will always have existed at some point, so from a non linear perspective of time, everything lasts forever. This ties into their perspective of death, since although everyone dies, since they were alive at some point, from a non linear perspective they are always alive at some points, and death is just another point. There is no meaningful difference or order to the points, so to them it is equally valid to say someone is still alive even after they have died.
The Earthling understanding is that once someone has died, they are gone forever, since the moments in time when they were alive have already past. This makes sense from an Earthling perspective as humans cannot travel backwards through time, so once a person is dead there is no way to reach the moments when they were alive, so for all intents and purposes they are gone for good.
Billy thinks proliferating the Tralfamadorian perspective helps because it makes people understand that even though they may not be able to access the points in time when a person who is dead was alive, the moments when they were alive still exists from an objective point of view, and is not gone. This way no one is ever truly dead. This would help people get over grief and give them a more positive understanding of death, as people who are dead still are alive technically.
The Earthling understanding is that once someone has died, they are gone forever, since the moments in time when they were alive have already past. This makes sense from an Earthling perspective as humans cannot travel backwards through time, so once a person is dead there is no way to reach the moments when they were alive, so for all intents and purposes they are gone for good.
Billy thinks proliferating the Tralfamadorian perspective helps because it makes people understand that even though they may not be able to access the points in time when a person who is dead was alive, the moments when they were alive still exists from an objective point of view, and is not gone. This way no one is ever truly dead. This would help people get over grief and give them a more positive understanding of death, as people who are dead still are alive technically.
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Blog Post 10
Vonnegut probably chose to make his account the first chapter because he wanted to make sure the reader knew the background of the book and its context. Making it the first chapter would ensure that it would not be skipped, and also it serves to explain that the book is coming from an anti-war perspective. Also parts of the chapter serve as humorous anecdotes, such as his wife not dealing with him when he is drunk.
The three attitudes about war in the chapter are that of Harrison Starr's, who thinks it is pointless to write against wars, as they are inevitable, Mary O'Hare's, who is disgusted with the idea of glorifying war and the men who participate it so that others are discouraged about going to war, and Vonnegut's boss, who was a lieutenant colonel, and a tough guy, who mocks him for not being an officer, which shows that he glorifies the military to some degree. His boss's view is supported by the quote, "He used to ask me sneeringly sometimes why I hadn't been an officer, as though I'd done something wrong" (Vonnegut 13).
My own view would be closest to Mary O'Hare's, as I do not believe war or fighting in wars should be glorified, nor should the soldiers be idolized or made out to be things they are not, but at the same time I believe that violence is sometimes necessary to achieve things that peace cannot, and should not always be completely dismissed, but should always be a last resort.
The three attitudes about war in the chapter are that of Harrison Starr's, who thinks it is pointless to write against wars, as they are inevitable, Mary O'Hare's, who is disgusted with the idea of glorifying war and the men who participate it so that others are discouraged about going to war, and Vonnegut's boss, who was a lieutenant colonel, and a tough guy, who mocks him for not being an officer, which shows that he glorifies the military to some degree. His boss's view is supported by the quote, "He used to ask me sneeringly sometimes why I hadn't been an officer, as though I'd done something wrong" (Vonnegut 13).
My own view would be closest to Mary O'Hare's, as I do not believe war or fighting in wars should be glorified, nor should the soldiers be idolized or made out to be things they are not, but at the same time I believe that violence is sometimes necessary to achieve things that peace cannot, and should not always be completely dismissed, but should always be a last resort.
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Blog Post 9
Guitar's lack of faith in Milkman is because he is suspicious as to why Milkman would want to go and get the gold alone, especially because Milkman has never done anything by himself. In the past they did everything together, so Guitar suspects that he wants to go alone to cheat him out of the gold.
This is supported by the passage "Guitar was watching him carefully. "What's the matter?
he added. "Why you so low? You don't act like a man on his way to the end of the rainbow."" (Morrison 221). This shows that he was suspicious about him going alone, as he was was asking him why he was not happy about getting the gold by himself, and was watching him carefully while asking this, as if suspicious about his intentions.
This is believable as Guitar's growing increasingly paranoid and cynical about everything and everyone, and it makes sense that this would also apply to Milkman when he starts acting strange. They have been growing apart because Guitar's role in the Seven Days has horrified Milkman, and the two feel like they can no longer trust each other. Also his childhood has shaped him significantly as he had to deal with his father's death and how it ruined his family. He ha s cynical view of others because of when the foreman paid his family a small amount of money instead of life insurance to compensate for his father's death. This passage supports this: "It wasn't the divinity from the foreman's wife that made him sick. That came later. It was the fact that instead of life insurance, the sawmill owner gave his mother forty dollars to "tide you and them kids over," and she took it happily" (Morrison 224).
This is supported by the passage "Guitar was watching him carefully. "What's the matter?
he added. "Why you so low? You don't act like a man on his way to the end of the rainbow."" (Morrison 221). This shows that he was suspicious about him going alone, as he was was asking him why he was not happy about getting the gold by himself, and was watching him carefully while asking this, as if suspicious about his intentions.
This is believable as Guitar's growing increasingly paranoid and cynical about everything and everyone, and it makes sense that this would also apply to Milkman when he starts acting strange. They have been growing apart because Guitar's role in the Seven Days has horrified Milkman, and the two feel like they can no longer trust each other. Also his childhood has shaped him significantly as he had to deal with his father's death and how it ruined his family. He ha s cynical view of others because of when the foreman paid his family a small amount of money instead of life insurance to compensate for his father's death. This passage supports this: "It wasn't the divinity from the foreman's wife that made him sick. That came later. It was the fact that instead of life insurance, the sawmill owner gave his mother forty dollars to "tide you and them kids over," and she took it happily" (Morrison 224).
Sunday, November 6, 2016
blog post 8
I think its rather interesting how Milkman wanted to distance himself as much as possible from from his father, even purposefully trying to have different habits early in the book, but as he gets older, he acts more and more like Macon, until Lena calls him out on this. Surprisingly, it did not seem to have much an impact on him, so he must have become comfortable enough with himself that he does not care.
Guitar is becoming more and more of a sociopath. While he probably thinks he has noble intentions, such as casual disregard for human life is horrific, and although he targets white people, his logic could easily be used to kill black people who try to stop him.
What is the significance of Milkman's journey? Why is Macon so preoccupied with the gold when he is already wealthy? Does the gold symbolize anything? Did Macon Sr's ghost keep appearing to his children because he was not buried properly? How is Circe so old and still alive? Does this play into the magical realism?
Thursday, November 3, 2016
Blog Post 7
The conflict between reality and appearance in Corinthians is that she is pretending to be a secretary when in reality she is actually just a maid and lying to her family about it. She avoids the other maids, and when she goes to work she disguises her job by wearing heels and not carrying any maid uniform, but once she enters Miss Grahams house she changes into her uniform. This is supported by the quotes "She avoided the other maids on the street, and those whom she saw regularly on the bus assumed that she had some higher household position than theirs since she came to work in high-heeled shoes" (Morrison 189).
She also secretly has a relationship with Porter, wanting to keep it secret from her father. She ultimately chooses reality over her appearance, deciding to go to his place. She does it because if she did not Porter would leave her and likely never see her again, and she would be unloved for the rest of her life. "In a sudden flash she knew he was never going to see her again, and the days rolled out before her like a dingy gray carpet in an unfurnished, unpeopled hall-for-rent" (Morrison 195).
This results in Milkman telling Macon about it and Macon forcing her to quit her job, be forbidden from leaving the house and seeing Porter, effectively ruining her life. This is shown in the quote "He has forbidden her to leave the house, made her quit her job" (Morrison 215).
She also secretly has a relationship with Porter, wanting to keep it secret from her father. She ultimately chooses reality over her appearance, deciding to go to his place. She does it because if she did not Porter would leave her and likely never see her again, and she would be unloved for the rest of her life. "In a sudden flash she knew he was never going to see her again, and the days rolled out before her like a dingy gray carpet in an unfurnished, unpeopled hall-for-rent" (Morrison 195).
This results in Milkman telling Macon about it and Macon forcing her to quit her job, be forbidden from leaving the house and seeing Porter, effectively ruining her life. This is shown in the quote "He has forbidden her to leave the house, made her quit her job" (Morrison 215).
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
Blog Post 6
There are multiple instances in the chapter where Pilate is associated with magic. Milkman miraculously survives a murder attempt from Hagar, despite being struck in the collarbone. Hagar is also unable to to kill him, as she is somehow paralyzed. This is shown in the quote "Try as she might, the ball joint in her shoulders would not move" (Morrison 130).
All this happened after Milkman wished to a higher power to spare him. Pilate prepared a magic concoction to get Macon to get Ruth pregnant, where Ruth says "She gave me funny things to do. And some greenish-gray grassy looking stuff to put in his food" (Morrison 125). Another instance where she may have used magic is on the doll that she gave to Macon as a threat, which took nine attempts to fully be burned, even with alcohol, which was shown in the quote "Macon knocked it out of the chair and with a yardstick pushed it into the bathroom, where he doused it with alcohol and burned it. It took nine separate burnings before the fire got down to the straw and cotton ticking of its insides" (Morrison 132). Another instance involving magic is when she and Macon saw the ghost of her father after he was murdered. The magical aids she used to achieve her goals were to get Ruth pregnant and protect Milkman throughout his time in the womb, as well as save his life from Hagar. Her magic is not always benevolent, as what Macon drank allowed Ruth to take advantage of him, which would be rape, as Macon was coerced because he was under the influence. She seems to have an ends justify the means attitude in regards to her actions surrounding Milkman's birth.
All this happened after Milkman wished to a higher power to spare him. Pilate prepared a magic concoction to get Macon to get Ruth pregnant, where Ruth says "She gave me funny things to do. And some greenish-gray grassy looking stuff to put in his food" (Morrison 125). Another instance where she may have used magic is on the doll that she gave to Macon as a threat, which took nine attempts to fully be burned, even with alcohol, which was shown in the quote "Macon knocked it out of the chair and with a yardstick pushed it into the bathroom, where he doused it with alcohol and burned it. It took nine separate burnings before the fire got down to the straw and cotton ticking of its insides" (Morrison 132). Another instance involving magic is when she and Macon saw the ghost of her father after he was murdered. The magical aids she used to achieve her goals were to get Ruth pregnant and protect Milkman throughout his time in the womb, as well as save his life from Hagar. Her magic is not always benevolent, as what Macon drank allowed Ruth to take advantage of him, which would be rape, as Macon was coerced because he was under the influence. She seems to have an ends justify the means attitude in regards to her actions surrounding Milkman's birth.
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