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| American G.I.s (part of the thousands of young men who enlisted in WWII for the U.S.) |
source: www.wikipedia.com
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Chapter 2- U.S. Soldiers circa WWII
"He [Roland Weary] has every piece of equipment he had ever been issued...bulletproof Bible, a pamphlet entitled "Know Your Enemy," another pamphlet entitled "Why We Fight," and another pamphlet of German phrases in English phonetics...." (Vonnegut 40).
In Chapter Two, Roland Weary is depicted as a young, striving, and slightly pitiful U.S. soldier trapped behind German lines as a result of loss at Battle of the Bulge. He carried every single piece of equipment he has been issued, including blunt pamphlets about Germany and the cause of fighting. Interesting? Yes. The purpose of a soldier is to fight for the United States in all her glory, to put down the enemy in the name of freedom. So, if young men were to enlist, shouldn't they know their purpose for fighting before they left their homes and joined a long line of cadets? Shouldn't they be already educated about the Germans before being sent out to the country itself? These ideas were usually nonexistent during WWII. The average American soldier was male, 26 years old, U.S.-born, and read at a middle-school level. A sizable percent of them were completely illiterate as a result of a deemphasis on education during the Great Depression. Christianity was a prominent factor in the lives of some, such as Billy Pilgrim, who served as a chaplain's assistant, and he "had a meek faith in Jesus which most soldiers found putrid" (Vonnegut 31). While many men did not know much about the deep entanglements of the war or the country they were about to enter, they volunteered by the masses for the sake of U.S. freedom and victory. Many men were just out of boyhood and wished to make a name for themselves by honorably fighting and laying their lives down for the U.S.A. While the army was not as technologically advanced and the average soldier was not as educated or prepared as today, the millions of men who valiantly gave their lives and time for the U.S's sake did not do so in vain.
source: www.wikipedia.com
source: www.wikipedia.com
Chapter 2- Foil Characters (Roland Weary and Billy Pilgrim)
Think of a stereotypical, middle-school bully. Does a chubby, fumbling, power-hungry fool come to mind? A boy, calling himself a man, who has been put down so frequently in his own experiences that he has nursed an addiction to putting down others? Otherwise known as, Roland Weary.
Who is the bully's victim? The scrawny boy...the boy who lacks both the desire and physical strength to "save himself" or simply get out of the bully's path of insult. The weak, awkward boy, a.k.a. Billy Pilgrim.
While Weary and Pilgrim's relationship behind the newly-constructed German lines is more complex than a elementary bully and his victim, the two form a hearty example of foil characters in The Slaughterhouse Five. Roland Weary, "was at the end of an unhappy childhood" and "had been unpopular because he was stupid and fat and mean, and smelled like bacon no matter how much he washed" (Vonnegut 35). He has been "ditched" numerous times in his life and he responds to the despicable feeling of abandonment by "finding somebody who was even more unpopular than himself...and then he would find some pretext for beating the shit out of him" (Vonnegut 35). In stark contrast, Billy Pilgrim is a weak, funny-looking boy of 21 years, who has been caught as an American chaplain's assistant behind German lines. His civilian shoes full of snow and body freezing under his lack of a real military uniform, he gave up his desire to live. He was a "Joe College," an optometry student in a small town and anything but a soldier or a valiant survivor. The only reason, ironically, that he survived the forests was the shoving and abuse from Weary to get him to continue walking. Weary is aggressive and wishes to be a colonel, so much so that he keeps a hidden whistle and attempts to give orders to his pitiful regiment of four men. Pilgrim is lonely and fragile, and has no desire to even continue with his life, which makes him easily submissive to the constant verbal and physical abuse of Weary. While Weary was determined to reach camp, make up for his unimportant life, and receive glory with the "Three Musketeers" and for saving Pilgrim, Billy Pilgrim put no effort in for his own survival and at times wished to be left behind as he entered into the insanity of being "unstuck in time" and feeling the onset of near death. Being foil characters, the two conflict and consequently leave noisy and conspicuous trails, easy for German soldiers to find.
Who is the bully's victim? The scrawny boy...the boy who lacks both the desire and physical strength to "save himself" or simply get out of the bully's path of insult. The weak, awkward boy, a.k.a. Billy Pilgrim.
While Weary and Pilgrim's relationship behind the newly-constructed German lines is more complex than a elementary bully and his victim, the two form a hearty example of foil characters in The Slaughterhouse Five. Roland Weary, "was at the end of an unhappy childhood" and "had been unpopular because he was stupid and fat and mean, and smelled like bacon no matter how much he washed" (Vonnegut 35). He has been "ditched" numerous times in his life and he responds to the despicable feeling of abandonment by "finding somebody who was even more unpopular than himself...and then he would find some pretext for beating the shit out of him" (Vonnegut 35). In stark contrast, Billy Pilgrim is a weak, funny-looking boy of 21 years, who has been caught as an American chaplain's assistant behind German lines. His civilian shoes full of snow and body freezing under his lack of a real military uniform, he gave up his desire to live. He was a "Joe College," an optometry student in a small town and anything but a soldier or a valiant survivor. The only reason, ironically, that he survived the forests was the shoving and abuse from Weary to get him to continue walking. Weary is aggressive and wishes to be a colonel, so much so that he keeps a hidden whistle and attempts to give orders to his pitiful regiment of four men. Pilgrim is lonely and fragile, and has no desire to even continue with his life, which makes him easily submissive to the constant verbal and physical abuse of Weary. While Weary was determined to reach camp, make up for his unimportant life, and receive glory with the "Three Musketeers" and for saving Pilgrim, Billy Pilgrim put no effort in for his own survival and at times wished to be left behind as he entered into the insanity of being "unstuck in time" and feeling the onset of near death. Being foil characters, the two conflict and consequently leave noisy and conspicuous trails, easy for German soldiers to find.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
"Eheu, fugaces labuntur anni..." ?- Chapter 1
"That must have been in 1964 or so- whatever the last year was for the New York's World's Fair.
Eheu, fugaces labuntur anni" (Vonnegut 11).
As I was reading Chapter 1 of The Slaughterhouse-Five, I stumbled across the phrase "eheu, fugaces labuntur anni." At first, I dismissed it as one of Vonnegut's many eccentric phrases in the novel. I googled the phrase after reading about how he took his daughter and her friend Allison, who were both outfitted in the best of their white party dresses, to the last World's Fair and to see his war buddy, Bernard V. O'Hare. The phrase means, in Latin: "Alas! How the fleeting years glide away." The sentence was taken from Horace's Odes, or his collection of four books of lyric poems, which date from 23-13 BC. He modeled them after the shorter Greek lyric poems of Pindar, Sappho, and Alcaeus.
With this allusion, Vonnegut was reflecting on how his youth and his years with his daughter have passed. Also, he looks back at the time of World Fairs, which now depict a simpler, more innocent past. He tells the audience with this allusion that he too is feeling the effects of aging on his memories. The last time he visited O'Hare, his daughter was only a girl in a pristine party dress, and looking back as he writes his Dresden book, he realizes his "fleeting years have glided away".
Eheu, fugaces labuntur anni" (Vonnegut 11).
As I was reading Chapter 1 of The Slaughterhouse-Five, I stumbled across the phrase "eheu, fugaces labuntur anni." At first, I dismissed it as one of Vonnegut's many eccentric phrases in the novel. I googled the phrase after reading about how he took his daughter and her friend Allison, who were both outfitted in the best of their white party dresses, to the last World's Fair and to see his war buddy, Bernard V. O'Hare. The phrase means, in Latin: "Alas! How the fleeting years glide away." The sentence was taken from Horace's Odes, or his collection of four books of lyric poems, which date from 23-13 BC. He modeled them after the shorter Greek lyric poems of Pindar, Sappho, and Alcaeus.
With this allusion, Vonnegut was reflecting on how his youth and his years with his daughter have passed. Also, he looks back at the time of World Fairs, which now depict a simpler, more innocent past. He tells the audience with this allusion that he too is feeling the effects of aging on his memories. The last time he visited O'Hare, his daughter was only a girl in a pristine party dress, and looking back as he writes his Dresden book, he realizes his "fleeting years have glided away".
Direct Characterization- Chapter 1
"I have become an old fart with his memories and his Pall Malls, with his sons full grown" (Vonnegut 2).
With this humorous, pensive quote, Vonnegut establishes a strong example of direct characterization. Speaking from his own point of view and about himself, he reveals that his life has seen many years and many notable memories. He calls himself an "old fart," which humorously and lightly excuses himself from the flawless, chronological book one would expect from a younger writer. Also, by alluding to his Pall Malls, he tells the audience that he is a chronic cigarette smoker, maybe an addict, and is fully aware of how his life has progressed. In mentioning the growth of his sons, Vonnegut also characterizes himself as a proud father of the young adults he has raised. Perhaps longing for his youth, Vonnegut directly says that he has become old and is only left with "his memories and his Pall Malls," while his grown sons have left to live their own lives. Vonnegut is therefore left to conjure up the most important memories for his ongoing "Dresden book," The Slaughterhouse-Five.
With this humorous, pensive quote, Vonnegut establishes a strong example of direct characterization. Speaking from his own point of view and about himself, he reveals that his life has seen many years and many notable memories. He calls himself an "old fart," which humorously and lightly excuses himself from the flawless, chronological book one would expect from a younger writer. Also, by alluding to his Pall Malls, he tells the audience that he is a chronic cigarette smoker, maybe an addict, and is fully aware of how his life has progressed. In mentioning the growth of his sons, Vonnegut also characterizes himself as a proud father of the young adults he has raised. Perhaps longing for his youth, Vonnegut directly says that he has become old and is only left with "his memories and his Pall Malls," while his grown sons have left to live their own lives. Vonnegut is therefore left to conjure up the most important memories for his ongoing "Dresden book," The Slaughterhouse-Five.
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