Blog Post 20

I do  believe Billy is supposed to be a Christ figure.The only thing that makes me think otherwise is before the war Billy was a weakling and Billy prefers sinking over swimming. The connections I can make it to Billy being a Christ figure is that he becomes unstuck in time an can move to and from different events in his life. Both Billy and Christ wanted to warn people about something coming. Christ wanted to spread news about God and Billy wants to spread news about Tralfamadorians. The other connection would be that Billy is re-birthed after he time travels just like Christ rebirth. This shows Billy has some control in the fourth dimension. Also Billy is not afraid of death. Well it's either that or he does not care. Every time somebody dies we see him say "so it goes". Throughout the book we see the mention Adam and Eve. When we hear references about Adam and Eve we think about the beginning of time. I think enemies are mentioned over and over because they connected to Billy in some way. Billy in constantly time travelings to random points in his life. I think they make the reference to Adam and Eve because they had unlimited access to power until they ate the apple. So maybe they could have time traveled and been in the 4th dimension just like Billy is. Billy also believes that death is not the final part of life just like Jesus believed in the afterlife.

Blog Post 19: Its a Circle, not a Square

It has been said that Slaughterhouse-Five is written in a circular pattern. I do not entirely agree with this statement. A Circular pattern usually refers to a story where the ending is in the same place as the start of the novel was. One area that makes me believe slaughterhouse five is writing in circular pattern is shown when Billy is "unstuck" in time. While reading the book I thought it would be centered around the bombing at Dresden, but so far Billy Pilgrim and his life after the war is what has been mainly talked about. Personally, I do not find any structure in the novel. Kurt Vonnegut seems to not care what order of events happen in. In fact it took him 23 years to write this novel. The first chapter in this book was written after the after the rest of the novel is finished. I don't see how he could have any structure when writing from the end to the start. From what we have read, we keep jumping to different parts of the circle randomly. There are many plots in the book that live on their own and have nothing to do with the bombing at Dresden. Sometimes the plot is very hard to follow due to the fact that he keeps time traveling. Every time he time travels a completely changes the plot the only part about the time traveling that makes me Think that the book has a circular pattern is that every time he time travels he comes back to his original starting spot where he was left off.

Blog Post 18

While reading chapter 4, we see Billy waiting for the flying saucer's arrival. While he is waiting he starts to watch a movie that is about American bombers in the second world war and some of the fearless men in it. The weird part about this chapter is that he watches the movie not only forwards but backwards. There is a reason for this. The way he watches the movie backwards correlates to his life in a way. Maybe he is seeing his life in reverse and what could have been different.The way he goes backwards makes me think its making him feel the affect the war had on him more. He keeps going into his past. This should show his life in order like the movie about the German city being in flames, and then going to what happened cause this to occur. Since Billy watched the movie in reverse it showed that he does not care about the order things are in, and in fact wishes he could change them as we see at the end of the chapter. Billy must have been thinking while the film was showing that no matter what way the events come out in, they all will result in the same outcome. His thought add to the role of this film in the book because they give it meaning. If we did not see billy looking into his past and life in reverse, then the movie being in reverse would almost be pointless to the novel.

Blog Post 16

Why did he choose to make the first chapter a chapter in the book instead of a preface? A preface is a background to the book. It is something to remember as you read the book.  The reason Vonnegut choose to make the first chapter of Slaughterhouse-Five a chapter instead of a preface to the novel is because the novel is meant to be tied into his life. A preface doesn't not connect to the book in that manner. A preface is something you keep in your mind that would correlate to a scenario or event, but Vonnegut was actually in the war himself. He is using this book to show people what he experienced and went through himself. A weird part of the chapter is when Vonnegut decides putting forth the time and effort to write and publish this is not worth it. He says writing a book is hard as preventing a war. Vonnegut also finds out he has is bad with time and it is distorted to him. Chapter one is a way for Vonnegut to have a flashback to what he has been through. We are also introduced to a character named O'hare that he wants to keep having conversation with.

Blog Post 15

AT the start and end of this novel Flying is introduced and used. Throughout the novel we see many men trying to fly away from there problems, Robert Smith being the first one. He was not liked by the community because due to his job, he had to take everybody money. Nobody likes a insurance agent. This puts Robert in a very bad spot causing him to want to run from his lack of security and problems. When Robert jumped from the building he is giving up all his responsibility's. In the book i look at is as a way men give up on life and release all there problems to other people. This is a major theme repeated frequently in the book. To me this is a very selfish way for people to get rid of problems because it affects much more then themselves. It affects there family, friends, and people that witness the event. Later in the novel we see Solomon try to fly away leaving his children and wife. This is weird tho because Milkman viewed him as a hero. While we don't see any women in the book try to fly away form there problems, I think the author uses men to stand for everyone. I have mixed thoughts on what Toni's main point she is trying to put across to her readers is, but the one point I do understand was well put by using the "flying" method.

Blog Post 14: The Mighty 7 ft. Gutair

  I feel as if Milkman and Guitar have some very relaxed encounters in this chapter giving there interactions a very laid back feeling. Milkman was never scared even though he knows Guitar wants to kill him. Guitar cant trust milkman and what he wants to do. When Milkman says he was helping a man lift his crate at the train station Guitar strongly believes hes lying considering Milkman has never helped anybody but himself before. In the past he never wanted to help anyone with anything. Guitars view on the world is very distrusting already. I believe he is overreacting saying its a cause of murder. Through the books we see Guitar grew up poor with little help. Saying this the Seven Days has given him a view of death that most people don't have. He views this as a way to create balance in the world, and an ultimate way to right the immoral things that may happen on and in Earth. Being able to decide who lives and dies is a very cocky thing to think. This is just a way for Guitar to feel better for all the things that happened to him in his life, yet I don't think this justifies his thoughts. I think it is a reason, but not an excuse for his behavior. His ignorance is dangerous, and it makes him no better than the sinners he believes to be punishing. Guitars world is full of injustice to him.