Talk Radio (SF Chapter 9)

This chapter starts with Valencia's death, which I find particularly sad because she adores Billy and Billy was simply resigned to having to marry her. Billy's roomate at the hospital is a retired brigadier general, who seems to be an arrogant jerk. He feels absolutely entitled, has had several trophy wives and remarks to the staff that some people should be left to die. He also boast on of my favorites lines in the book, which he says in reference to Billy, "I could carve a better man out of a banana." (184) The general is writing a comprhensive history of the Air Force and his great problem is Dresden, because in America most of it was kept secret. Despite his treating of Billy as an inferior, he later has to acknowledge that Billy was in Dresden, and is probably the most apt to help with his book.

The book flashes back to Dresden, where the war is over and the Russians haven't yet arrived. Bilyl experience a moment of true happiness by basking in the sun. The book then returns to its theme of seemingly unreal real events, where Billy scolded by a German couple as to the state of his horses. Thousands are dead, and people rush to the defense of horses. On page 198 Billy finally explains why everything just all right with him, because every moment is structured a certain way, so everything happens as it must, so everything is just fine.

During Billy's trip to New York he visits an adult bookstore, where the book returns to its cyclical nature. He finds a Kilgore Trout book, magazines dealing with Montana Wildhack, and the dirty picture show to him by Roland Weary in the war. Everything goes on. Weary is dead, but a piece of him is still there and he's still there in the past. Later, on Tralfamadore, Montana proves to really be Billy's soul mate. She recognizes his time travel, and can even tell where he has traveled, and she too has adopted Tralfamadorian ideas. The end of this chapter reveals another important connection, the Serenity prayer is engraved on Montana's locket.