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.