Worst Ending of My Life!

The ending of Slaughterhouse Five definitely did not meet my expectations.  The novel is full of things that keep the reader hooked like Trafalmadore, World War Two, and his continuous flashbacks.  How could they end it on such a mellow note? Everyone ends up dying which made me depressed.  Instead of making the people die while fighting for something, Vonnegut made them die just because.  It seems like he just ran out of ideas, which is something that you should not let the reader know or think while reading your book.

"When she arrived at the hospital,  people rushed to the windows to see what all the noise was. The Cadillac, with both mufflers gone, sounded like a heavy bomber coming in on a wing and a prayer. Valencia turned off the engine, but then she slumped against the steering wheel, and the horn brayed steadily. A doctor and a nurse ran out to find out what the trouble was. Poor Valencia was unconscious, overcome by carbon monoxide." (p.234)

So while on her way to visit her husband, she gets into a car accident that destroyed her exhaust system.  She keeps driving and when she finally gets to the hospital, she dies! HOW DEPRESSING! Why didn't Vonnegut keep it interesting by saying, "Valencia left her house immediately and took the Cadillac.  While speeding on the highway so that she could see her husband before he died or became a vegetable, a semi-truck ran into her and killed her." I know it sounds extremely cruel, but at least Valencia's life would have had a good ending.  Her death isn't the only boring one.  Everyone on the plane died although Billy had the chance to keep it from taking off! He brags about being on Trafalmadore and having been able to see the future. So, why didn't he stop it?! He even knows how he is going to die! He is in a crowd because he had just finished his speech about Trafalmadore and he tells his body guards to go home. He knows someone is going to try to shoot him so why didn't he tell his body guards to stay with him?! Does he really hate life so much that he wants to die and make everyone around him die as well? The only man who actually had an entertaining end was Derby. He got shot by a firing squad while in Dresden.  Vonnegut should have kept his excitement for the ending of everyone else's lives.  With all the excitement occurring, the ending would have been a lot more intense and worth reading.

Be Happy

"When he was young, Vonnegut's mother committed suicide and the lack of maternal figure probably influenced how Billy acts with his own mother in the novel." -Lina Merizalde

Not long ago I read Lina Merizalde's blog Vonnegut: On the Verge of Losing his Mind. She examines the relationship between Billy and his mother and why he treats her like he does. She seems to believe that it is because of the anger Vonnegut has towards his mommy.  


I completely agree with her because Billy is very cold with Mrs. Pilgrim. No matter the kindness she shows towards him, he just brushes it off. When she goes to see him in the hospital, he pulls the covers over his face until she leaves.  He would do this because: "He always got much sicker until she went away.  She upset Billy simply by being his mother.  She made him feel embarrassed and ungrateful and weak because she had gone to so much trouble to give him life, and to keep that life going, and Billy didn't really like life at all." (p.102)


 It seems like Billy's actions are related to Vonnegut's mother's actions.  They both have a negative outlook on life and just want to end their lives.  Something else said in her blog is, "Children who lose a parent tend to have three times the risk of depression then those with two living parents..."  Could Billy's feelings also be related to Vonnegut's? He lost his mother and survived a war which must have led him to depression.  


Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behavior, feelings, and physical well being.  It pushes away family, friends, and other people who care about you.  It destroys relationships and our process in growing as a happy and healthy human being.  It may even take the life of a person if he/she does not get help. Once the person gets help for this terrible disease, he/she can live a happy and full life.  He/she can go from a path of being forever alone to a happy one full of rainbows, sunshine, smiles, and things that make the person happy.  Try to live your life as happy as possible and you will see that there are positive things worth living for. 

Cinderelli is Billy Pilgrim??

"The boots fit perfectly.  Billy Pilgrim was Cinderella, and Cinderella was Billy Pilgrim." (p. 185)

I am sure that anyone who is living today has seen or heard the tale of Cinderella. The girl who lived a terrible life, cleaning up after her stepmother and stepsisters, until she met her fairy godmother and prince.  Is Billy Pilgrim really the male version of Cinderella? I am not quite sure.  I mean there are things that make them identical, but there are also things that make them completely different.

They are identical in the sense that they both went from living a terrible life to living a better one.  Both their fathers died when they were at a young age.  For Cinderella it was after he brought home her stepmother and stepsisters.  For Billy it was in the year of 1944 after a hunting accident.  After her father died, her step family revealed their true nature.  They were cruel to her and made her move up to the attic and work as their maid. If I were Cinderella I would not accept that.  Yes she was little, but she still had her title of being from a wealthy family.  I mean they lived during the medieval times so her step mother can't take away her title, right? Billy had a terrible life because he had to fight during WW2 where he became a prisoner.  Just like Cinderella, he didn't choose to take part in the war.  He was sent by the government to fight for his country. Wow. That had to suck.  After they both lived that difficult life, a miracle happened.  They both went down a path that led them to a shoe.  For Cinderella it was a glass slipper and for Billy it was a boot.  The first time they tried it on it had fit perfectly.  The glass slipper led Cinderella to her prince while the boot led Billy to Dresden which would eventually save him from the war.  After that, Billy went home and met his princess, a rich girl who's father owned the school he was attending.  He got married to Valencia while Cinderella got married to Prince Charming and they both lived a happily ever after. Well sorta.

After their marriage is when Cinderella and Billy's similarities drift apart.  Billy married a woman he absolutely despises and only married her because of the money. RUDE! Cinderella married her prince because she loved him.  As soon as Billy became rich, he forgot who he was and didn't really stay friends with his old poor friends, meanwhile Cinderella did not forget who she was (skip to 7:22).  We assume Cinderella lived a happily ever after because she is a fairytale, but we do know that Billy didn't live a happily ever after.  He now has a daughter who does not stop bothering him and a wife who annoys him and died early in his daughter's life.

Vonnegut should have just put that Billy is like Cinderella. Not that he is Cinderella because although the beginning of their lives are very similar, the rest of their lives are very different.  Cinderella's tale is a happy fairytale and Billy's is a depressing story.  Why couldn't Billy just love Valencia that way she was and try to make her happy? Additionally, if he really couldn't stand her why would he freakin marry her?! I hate when people just go for someone's money! They don't think of the effect it may have on the person if he/she ever found out.  Cinderella is a kind and gentle person while Billy is a cruel and selfish old man.  He didn't make his life worth living because he always had a negative opinion about life.  Lesson from this chapter? Try to be like Cinderella.  Think of positive things and always try to make your dreams come true.  You will see that life has a lot to offer and that its worth living.  Don't try to guess your future like Billy did, just live in the present and sometimes think about your future.  If you do this your life will be a lot more exciting and not so boring.

If You Have Nothing Nice To Say, Don't Say It At All

"But the Gospels actually taught this: Before you kill somebody, make absolutely sure he isn't well connected."(p. 138)

This aphorism is insulting to Christians everywhere.  Why would an alien who is trying to learn about the human culture only focus on people who believe in God? Why would he only focus on the limited times Christians have been cruel?! The alien clearly does not understand the human culture.  Not everyone on the globe is a christian.  There are other religions which include: Buddhism, Judaism, Muslim, etc.  How would the alien feel if a random human being came to his/her planet and started judging something that he/she barely knew about?! All the Bible said is that those who persecuted the lord would be punished. It was the crowd's and Pontius Pilate's decision to hang Jesus Christ up on a cross.  I shouldn't be blaming the alien for this quote, I should be blaming Kilgore Trout.  He is the author of the book The Gospel From Outer Space and it is here that the sentence is located.

What does Kilgore Trout have against Christians? Why does he feel the need to put them down? I'm sure everyone has heard of the famous saying mothers and fathers enjoy telling little kids: If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all.  Apparently Trout hasn't heard of it or he chooses not to pay attention to it.  Everyone is free to have their own opinion, but you should be careful of how you express it.    Imagine if Kilgore had become successful with his book? The Christians would be furious and the problem could get violent.  It was a silly mistake of his that could have been easily avoided.

I have been in that situation many times and this lesson should definitely be taught in school.  One time I wanted to give my opinion on some body's outfit.  I said that I didn't really like it and that she should definitely choose another one.  That hurt her and she got very upset.  It was a silly mistake of mine because I didn't choose the right words or phrase to give my opinion with.

Eliot Rosewater, Billy's roommate in the veteran hospital,introduced him to Kilgore Trout.  Since then "Kilgore Trout became Billy's favorite living author, and science fiction became the only sort of tales he could read." (p.128) Billy got his crazy idea of Tralfamadorians living in a fourth dimension from him. Kilgore Trout has had a big influence on Billy and his ideas.  As mentioned in the aphorism above, he only reads Trout's books because he thinks he is a good author, even though he agrees with Rosewater when he says: "Jesus-if Kilgore Trout could only write!"(p.140) Billy backs him up by thinking, "He had a point: Kilgore Trout's unpopularity was deserved. His prose was frightful. Only his ideas were good." (p.140)

Calvin and Hobbes: It's O.K. to be Different

Billy Pilgrim is on a spaceship going to Trafalmadore when he goes through a time warp and returns to a memory of when he is 12 years old.  He is exploring the Old West with his parents when they stop at the grand canyon.

""well-" said Billy's father, manfully kicking a pebble into space, "there it is." They had come to this famous place by automobile. They had had seven blowouts on the way. "It was worth the trip," said Billy's mother raptly. "Oh, God-was it ever worth it." Billy hated the canyon. He was sure that he was going to fall in." -Slaughterhouse Five (p.112-113)

Calvin is a young boy going with his parents on a camping trip. They don't tell him where he is going, but when he finds out he does not seem too happy about it.

" "So where are we going? I sure hope we're not camping again this year."-Calvin "Well,we are."-Father "Oh,no! Why do we have to go camping?! I HATE camping! Swatting mosquitoes while lying frozen and cramped on bumpy rocks, with no TV and only canned food to eat, is NOT my idea of a good time."-Calvin "Thats why we brought bug spray"- Father "Look, just let me out here, ok? I'll hitch home and see you when you get back, all right?" -Calvin"- The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes (p.181)

Aren't these two quotes similar? They are both about a little boy giving his negative opinion about the trip he is on. As soon as I read the passage in Slaughterhouse Five, I immediately thought of my all time favorite comic Calvin and Hobbes.

Calvin is a crazy child who uses big words and LOVES to give his opinion.  Imagine having a child like that. He has an imaginary friend named Hobbes, his stuffed tiger.  Hobbes helps him with his homework, he sleeps with him, goes sledding with him, and even camping.  The friendship that Calvin and Hobbes have is unbreakable.  While Calvin is loud and has no problem expressing himself, Billy is the exact opposite.  Billy seems like a shy little boy who thinks what he feels instead of saying it.  He doesn't seem to have any friends and his only company are his parents.  Imagine having a life like that?

These two aphorisms from different books show the different personalities kids and adults may have.  They are both saying the exact same thing but using different forms. Its ok to be different. Sometimes it is actually better being different.  Imagine a world where everyone is the same.  They would all like the same things, speak the same way, live in the same location, and even look the same. Where is the fun in that? There would be no point in meeting and becoming friends with anyone because you would already know everything about them. There wouldn't be diversity in jobs, hobbies, or languages.  Being different is a good thing because it gives the person a little mystery.  We will never know absolutely everything about a person which leads us to want to get closer to them.

As I mentioned before, Calvin and Billy are very different kids in very different books.  In Slaughterhouse Five, Billy is also very different from the soldiers around him.  "The Germans found him to be one of the most screamingly funny things they had seen in all of World War Two." (p.115)  Many times in the book they refer to him as a skinny man who doesn't have any weapons.  It is possible that the Germans were laughing at him because of his size.  Many of the soldiers who go off to war are normally big and buff, Billy was not. I know that with this paragraph I am contradicting myself when I say, "It's ok to be different." I am actually not.  Yes, people get made fun of when they look different from other people, but it's the personality that counts.

Trafalmadore vs Dresden

War must only be entertaining when your in all the action and not marching towards a camp.  Life must be fairly simple when your in the second situation because Billy Pilgrim has a lot of time for daydreaming.  He must have way to much free time if he has the time to come up with a whole future life for himself. Yup, definitely too much free time! He wakes up in 1967 once again and it is the night after Barbara's wedding.  He is watching a Second World War movie forwards and then backwards.  Billy really focuses on the movie when it plays backwards. I guess that maybe he wishes life and war were like the movie when it plays backwards. If life could fix things and major worldly issues then we would not be in the tough situation that we are in at the moment.  We wouldn't have a violent history and the world would be a happy peaceful place.  Adam and Eve appear again when Pilgrim wishes that the world would have stayed perfect when these two perfect people were alive.  This chapter has a lot of symbolism.  In his opinion everything is dead and cold.  He describes corpses as ivory and blue which only helps me picture what someone dead may look like.  While he is walking to the waiting flying saucer he describes his bare feet as ivory and blue while saying the champagne is dead.  When he enters the saucer he describes what it looks like and what the trafalmadorians are like. He says that time doesn't matter to them and that everything is what it is.

He awakes back in Germany on the moving train. While on the train no one allows Pilgrim to fall asleep on the floor. They all had stories of what he had done to them in his sleep.  I feel bad for him because when I was little my sisters didn't like it when I slept in their room or bed.  They both would have sleepovers in each other's room and I would never be invited because I spoke and kicked in my sleep.  Billy Pilgrim and I are very similar in that way.  When they arrive at the camp Pilgrim realized that Trafalmadore and Dresden are very similar. They have many of the same buildings, the first order was for him to take off his clothes, and they didn't speak english.  While naked, the Germans were preparing the showers and inspecting them.  The man with the best body, according to Pilgrim, would get shot in 67 days by a firing squad.  When they all enter the shower and the water comes on, Pilgrim has a flashback of when his mother was bathing him when he was just a baby.

Uh Oh Spaghetti O!

When someone falls behind from the group while walking in a forest, it usually has a negative effect.  In my opinion, negative things can always turn into positive things; at least that is what happens in Slaughterhouse 5.  While Roland Weary and Bill Pilgrim try to catch up to the group, German soldiers begin to shoot at them.  The soldiers captured Pilgrim and Weary, and killed the two remaining soldiers.  While being captured Weary had to give all his belongings to the german soldiers while the soldiers gave him theirs.  During this process the captain was cleaning and polishing his boots when Adam and Eve reflected off them.  Could "Adam and Eve" be a symbol? Will they appear in the rest of the book? Only time will tell.  In the beginning of Slaughterhouse 5, Kurt Vonnegut tells about his companion when he was in Dresden, O'Hare.  Is it possible that O'Hare and Weary are the same person? It's possible because Bill and Weary are both captured together and are taken to Dresden together.  When they both arrive to the cottage they see about 20 other americans.

Once again Pilgrim begins to daydream (what a surprise) and wakes up in 1967 as a 44 year old man.  He is in his optometry office with a female patient that stands up and leaves.  He begins to observe his surroundings and sees that he owns a very nice car.  When a siren starts to sound Pilgrim begins to freak out because he think World War Three will start at any minute. Wow this dude is paranoid!

He is rudely waken up and is told to keep walking.  While thinking about 1967 the soldiers make him reenact the capture so that the German media could take pictures.  He starts to daydream (again) about his perfect rich life in 1967. His son is a sergeant in a present-day war and his daughter, Barbara, is about to get married.  While driving to a restaurant in Ilium, NY he drives by the ghetto and sees the similarities it has with Dresden, Germany.  When he arrives to the restaurant he is named President of the Lion Clubs and then wakes up in Luxembourg.  I don't understand how the Germans let Billy live.  He kept bumping into everyone due to his daydreaming and injured leg.  I am extremely surprised they didn't murder him.

While on the march he met a man named Bob, a colonel with pneumonia.  He was telling everyone to remember him as "Wild Bob" and that if they were ever in Wyoming to ask for him.  They are transported to a train where they didn't move for two days.  "Wild Bob" had died while on the unmoving train and the soldiers brought a cotton stretcher and took him out of the cart.  On Christmas night the train starts to move and he begins to think of 1967.  That night he is kidnapped by a flying saucer from Trafalmadore.