Another day, another blog.
Video: "For the first time in history, a firestorm was consciously planned."
It seems like Dresden was a pretty spectacular place before the bombing. This is judging by book descriptions and alllll the footage about how amazing it was. However, how very horrible it was that so many refuges had come to the city to be saved only to have even more of a death toll. Some of the descriptions were terrifying. What was especially horrible to me was the shoes melting to the asphalt and the story about the woman pulled out of the way and a beam falling right where she was. The emotions of the people telling the stories about the bombing were off the charts. One more horrifying part was how they waited two hours to bomb again. This was because they wanted the ambulances and everyone there so they could kill more people, I suppose.
There was one part of the video where they agreed with the book (or the book agreed with the video) about how Dresden was assumed safe. Dresden could never be bombed. It was off the radar. It also said that the people of Dresden put their trust into the Americans and English, which relates back. Also, interestingly enough, it was mostly all women speaking about these horrors. This relates to our novel because the men never want to speak about it (sometimes the women don't either, admittedly).
Unrelated, but it could be related later, some Czechs came and laughed at the destruction and took the clothes from people . And, the quote from Winston Churchill that says: "looks like we slaughtered the wrong pig." I suppose that could also relate to our novel's title.
After watching this video I felt their emotions, but I was having trouble imagining the ruined city. So instead, I imagined my block and my hometown ruined and in millions of little pieces with no reason behind the attack. It made me want to cry and made me feel very numb. I can understand how they felt, though never completely.
Video: "I'm not Billy Pilgrim."
So Edward Crone is supposed to be Billy Pilgrim and he died of the thousand mile stare. He was buried in Dresden and his parents came and finally found him. He said Billy Pilgrim didn't understand anything at all.
However, Vonnegut seems to definitely not care about his life and have a lot of survivor's guilt. He also makes it seem like he had it worst when he's talking with his friend. I mean, possibly he did, but whatever. The point is that they both fought in the war.
I kind of feel like maybe possibly Billy Pilgrim did exist, but what Vonnegut did was pour his own feelings of detachment and apathy into this character. This makes it okay because he it wasn't hIM who was the "dirty flamingo." It was just this kid Billy Pilgrim who didn't understand anything about the war.
Tralfamadore
I don't think Tralfamadore exists. This novel isn't fantasy/sci-fi for one, and second, Billy is suffering from severe PTSD. This means that he is probably having hallucinations. That would be my main guess. In the novel, certain objects or situations transport Billy to the planet. I believe you even said something about objects in his house relating to the form of the aliens. We have already talked about this a little, but not extensively.
I think Billy believes it exists because 1) the familiar household objects give a sense of security and realism, and 2) PTSD hallucinations are very, very real while happening. In general, Billy was not given (obviously) the correct treatment in the mental hospital. This was common though.
I think the reason Billy is imagining these "aliens" because he wants to get away or escape from life (or war tore him from reality) and aliens in a spaceship could be about the easiest way to do it. He lives a normal life inside the terrarium on Tralfamadore and even comforts himself with the "death is just a point in time." I think that makes him feel better about war n general.
Characters
I thought that Roland Weary was an interesting character, and you said so also. I liked how he was so prepared for war and to kill, but what he really wanted was to be a part of something ("Three Musketeers;" by the way, what is up with that candy bar??). I think while Weary seems mean, he's just trying to fit in. His redeeming quality is the "we" or "team" thing.
Paul Lazarro is also a very fascinating character. He is purely mean-spirited. This is cool for a character because he's so flat and unchanging (always keeps his word). But I suppose his one human quality is trying anything to save himself. I think what he wants, at times, is just respect. That's why he damages others.
Edgar Derby is the quintessential "fight for my country" soldier bro. He taught English, took care of his body (and later others), and got in the army when he was older. Derby is very human and caring, but I also don't think it's what he wants to do, he just feels it's his duty. All the characters are different archetypes you see in war novels.
Commentaries
I like that the human-against-human aspect of war is shown. It's very murky. It's not just one man against another. Especially the scene with the Russian guy speaking gently to Billy at night by the fence. That's probably been one of my favorite parts of this novel. Human-ness and humanity are what attract me to stories and novels.
Free Will
And I believe we spoke about free will and how there are varying degrees of it.
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