One for the X-Files (Chapter 4 SF)

The first page of this chapter (72) brings back a lot of the elements from the end of the previous chapter. The wedding tent had black and orange stripes like the POW train, Billy and his wife nestle like spoons like the men on the train, and Billy's feet look ivory and blue, like the corpses by the side of the road. Again, he is completely calm as he waits to be abducted by aliens, because he is resigned to it happening. This time Vonnegut's insertion into the chapter is more discreet on page 73 Billy receives a call from a drunk man, which carries the scent of mustard gas and roses. In chapter one Vonnegut says he calls drunk and that when he's drunk he smells mustard gas and roses. I the whole bit where Billy sees the war movie backward, when all the bad things are undone, the bombs destroyed and put back into the earth, and people work towards the good deed of making the perfect Adam and Eve. It is the way Billy wishes time wnet, but he cannot control it. I like this part especially "Touchingly it was mainly women who did this work" by work he means the dismantling of bombs, which means that in real life, they had put them together, twisting the touching into the gruesome. The only questionBilly asks the Tralfamadorians is why him, to which the Tralfamadorians say there is no why, there is just the moment, which brings back the idea that things are done simply because they must be, not because we consciously make them that way. One event that really stuck wiht me was this "the hobo died. So it goes. His last words were, "You think this is bad? This ain't bad." I find it touching that he tried to fight to end, to say things were okay, while all the while it was time for him to die. Or maybe this just shows the Tralfamadorians are right, death's no big deal. Page 80 makes the comparison of a group of people to a liquid, one which is better enticed with warmth and tenderness. Death is compared to stone, a congealing of life. These are some of my favorite metaphors. This chapter also introduces two characters. Edgar Derby, who we know will be executed after the bombing and Paul Lazzaro, who has pledged to kill Billy for Weary. Finally, and enduring idea of the book is introduced at the very end, free will or the lack thereof. Tralfamadorians live in all moments, so they make no decisions. People do not live thta way, this is why only on Earth is there talk of free will.

Out of the Frying Pan, or is it out of the Fire? (SF Chapter3)

Chapter 3 begins with a description of "mopping up" which is doen after battle. I like how they show that the dog is innocent by saying "She had never been to war before. She had no idea what game was being played. Her name was Princess" (52) I like that somehow the name humanizes her and makes it so absurd that a dog called Princess is hunting people that will be killed. I like the fact that the Corporal, who is a great soldier and ready to surrender, and the strange story of Adam and Eve in the boots. Again they showcase innocence and the lasting ability to love even in war. Billy's flashforwards here are to show that his personality and attitudes are similar in war or peace and it is in a way a rmeinder that Billy survives the war, which dispels alot of tension. In page 59 Billy talks about a neighborhood looking like it has been through war, which shows that war never really leaves the soldier. I like the use of the Serenity prayer on page 60, where Billy shows he has no control over life and time, like a spectator to his own life. I also find it a strange match that this prayer is also given to people dealing with addiction. Once again, I sense there is importance in the passage about Billy's random weeping, but I can't figure it out. On page 67, when Wild Bob is rambling about a reunion in his home town, Vonnegut intejects by saying he was there and so was O'Hare. I think it's because it all feels so fake and unreal, like it couldn't happen, people couldn't really be that way, and Vonnegut has to tell you that it was real and true and just as disturbing. Another brilliant moment is on page 68, when a former hobo tells Billy it's not so bad. It's shocking because the moment is so horrible, and you can feel him trying to comfort himself, but also amazed that there really worse moments than that. On that same page, they show that right next to absolute misery, the men who work on the train have a near heavenly life. Good and bad coexist, for example the POWs easily share food and cooperate when living on the train

And We Begin (Chapter 2 Slaughterhouse 5)

The chapter starts out describing Billy Pilgrim's early life and the explanation that he sometimes lives his life in non-sequential order. This chapter continues to have the "so it goes" after death is mentioned trend, but it explains thta it is due to a custom he Learned from the alien culture of the Tralfamadorians, who can see past, present, and future at the same time, so no one really dies. (27) When they see a dead person they just say so it goes, because they are alive in other moments and they will be seen again. I think it's a really cool idea, because no one really dies, and everyone feels the lure of the idea of living forever. This chapter also provides some doubt to the existence of these creatures because Billy suffered an accident, but I don't this that matters so much as what the Tralfamadorians say. Billy is also very relax and inditurbed, on page 30 it says he never gets angry. Billy never expected to see combat, and was veyr unprepared for war, which colors the whoel tone of misery for the scenes in this chapter where Billy and three companions must walk in the snow. I find the character of Rolan Weary interesting too, as he is a bully that is just as lost in the war as Billy, and feels both affection and disgust towards him. On page 38 there is a bit explaining about a graphic crucifix in Billy's bedroom. This bit drew me, but I don't know why, or even its significance in the book. Another example of Billy's ambivalence towards life can be found on page 44, where he talks about how peaceful and beautiful he found drowning before he was rescued. Billy doesn't fear or run from death, he even finds the beauty in it, like the Tralfamadorians. Another interesting part of chapter 44 is Billy's mother asking him how she got so old, a constant source of fear and disgust for humans, but not a problem for Billy, whose non-linear life time lets him from old to young without distress. Another piece of time travel on page 50 shows that Billy has no real choice or control in his, he finds himself speaking before people and finding he has taken speech lessons, all without real conscious thought.

Slaughterhouse Chapter 1

I like how the first sentence just draws you in, and the subtle use of foreshadowing. One of my favorite peieces in this is the lines "It looked like Dayton, Ohio, more open spaces than Dayton has. There must be tons of human bone meal in the ground" (1) Right off the bat it lets you know death lurks under every seemingly nice surface. The author alludes to a drinking problem that brings out a yearning for the past and also brings up wartime smells of mustard gas and the scent of the old girlfriends he likes to call, roses. This chapter also alludes to the ending of the book, the execution of Derby. Another piece I liked was "he told me about the concentration camps, and about how the germans had made soap and candles out of the fat of dead jews and so on. All I could say was "I know, I know, I know."" (10) I like how you can feel the emphasis and how tired he feels of war. He also meantions thta the kindest best and most tired war veterans are the ones thta really fought, which shows thta the more you know of war the more you want never to return to it. I laos liek that at the end of the chapter he likes Lot's wife because she was so human and how he says that we need to stop looking back.

First Post

Ana Gutiérrez, first post.

A. What is the difference between a blog and a book?
Books are a lot more constricted than blogs, because the cannot be composed of short soemtimes unrelated entries, can't be excessively long and have to stay on a specific topic.

B. How have blogs changed recently?
They have become more personal and less about links.

C. Why might you read a blog?
Because the subject matter interests you.

D. Is there reason to doubt the objectivity of a blog? Why? Why not?
Yes, it is very personal and subject to personal bias, plus most don't even try to claim they are objective.

E. Identify three blogs that mention our summer reading.
1. http://fineartamerica.com/blogs/the-divine-comedy-and-dantes-inferno.html
2. http://www.blogcatalog.com/blogs/welcome-to-1984.html
3. http://www.pelhamlibrary.blogspot.com/