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Our narrator places himself back into the story again with an account of the deaths he has recently encountered. What is significant about the wording?
Why would aliens be so interested in Darwin? Why would they be interested in golf?
How had O'Hare and the narrator become so "extremely well-to-do"? Why does the narrator repeat Billy's phrase about Wild Bob?
What do you make of the comments the narrator and O'Hare have after they read the population data?
Now we have the narrator, O'Hare, and Billy all together in Dresden...does this solidify Billy's story?
Why is Dresden described as being the moon? Do you suppose it's a fitting description?
If so, how?
What does the position and condition of the first set of bodies found in Dresden suggest?
I like this ending...but it might not strike you the same. Take a look at the last 3-4 paragraphs...do you think this was a good way for Vonnegut to end the novel? Did the narrator keep his promise to Mary O'Hare?
32 comments:
I also enjoyed the ending to this novel, he brings the story full circle with the horses and the wagon was green and coffin-shaped. I also enjoy the last line “Poo-tee-weet”. Earlier in the novel Vonnegut mentions that the aftermath of massacres are supposed to be quiet, yet the only thing you here is “ All there is to say about a massacre , things like “Poo-tee-weet””. I think he kept his promise to Mary O’Hare. Vonnegut did not glorify war, but criticized it. Through the character of Billy, Vonnegut showed how young people really were in the war and how it changed them. He also showed how was not wonderful in any way and how war is one of the many flaws of the human race.
After Vonnegut and O’Hare read the population data, Vonnegut says something that sticks out to me. He states “I suppose they will all want dignity” (212). Having this data in the novel I think shows how Vonnegut wants to point out that it seems as if the world’s population is getting larger, and the larger it gets the more trouble is seen. However, dignity can not be achieved by everyone. As show in war, some people never receive honor and have to suffer.
Wow, what a thoughts to have about this book’s ending. “War is never glorified by those who truly fight in it.” (Vonnegut) He was right no price is even given out after a battle. War seems to be the biggest flaw that we have. No one gets anything out of it, loses outnumber the win every time. Especially, when that loses is a human life. How, can any country think about taking away the only thing a person has from beginning to end? Every war story always make me think of one thing, "Don’t take life to seriously, in the end you'll never escape alive," said by Elbert Hubbard. For me, war is too serious because with it the initial intentions always go way. It has no point. It's like people who drop out of school junior year. They go through a lot of work and then end it because they don't feel the need to finish.
I like the narrator's quote on page 211, " if I am going to spend eternity visiting this moment and that, I'm grateful that so many of those moments are nice." I think this can ring true for everybody. If people focus on making moments nice, there wouldn't be as much worry about making a lifetime nice. Making a lifetime is a lot harder than making a moment. This book offered a science-fiction "can't put it down" feel, but it also offered a reminder to make memories in moments.
Dresden is described as being the moon because there is nothing left. Everything is destroyed and there are piles of debris everywhere. The landscape is difficult to walk on, it is deserted like a desert. I would say that it’s a fitting description because of how nothing is left and hardly anyone is willing to climb the unstable setting. The debris is described as looks like curves on the moon flowing together.
i do really like the line "he left me his guns. they rust." because it shows that the narrator knows what destruction the cause and so he just lets them go into disrepair.
the aliens had an interest in darwin because he was the most prominent human to be okay with death, to recognize its need.
the first set of bodies shows that dresden wasn't prepared for the bombing, people were living like normal and then they just stopped.
i do really like the ending, partly because the narrator kept his promise on how he was going to end the book. and he did keep his other promise, the one to mary o'hare. they weren't frank sinatra or john wayne, they were just kids trying to stay alive. while it may not have been the most satisfying conclusion, the timeline of the book was so out of order that it would be near impossible to write a satisfying conclusion.
I think that Dresden being described like "the surface of the moon" after the bombing fits it perfectly because there is nothing left after that and it is somewhat abandoned, like the moon is from the Earth. Dresden, after the bombing, is challenging to step foot across because there is debris everywhere, like the craters located on the moon. Also, after the bombing no people would have survived, so it was deserted like how the moon is with no life. There are many similarities between the moon and what became of Dresden, so I feel that it is a fitting description.
I also liked how Vonnegut described Dresden as looking like the moon. The craters left from burning buildings and bombs would have looked like craters on "the surface of the moon" and also, as emily said, barren and totally vacant other than his party of people that was moving. They were the only survivors as far as they could see from Dresden.
I do think that the author kept his promise to Mary O'Hare. He did not glorify war at all. He showed how demoralizing and truly hideous it was through the view point of a man turned crazy by war, Billy.
I also think this was a good way for Vonnegut to end the novel. The way he ended it helped bring the story full-circle.
I like the narrator's quote as well on page 211, " if I am going to spend eternity visiting this moment and that, I'm grateful that so many of those moments are nice." I think this can ring true for everybody. If people focus on making moments nice, there wouldn't be as much worry about making a lifetime nice. Making a lifetime is a lot harder than making a moment. This book offered a science-fiction "can't put it down" feel, but it also offered a reminder to make memories in moments..... the ending left me still wavering about Dresden and time traveling and everything.... it left me with lots of different thoughts.
Dresden is described as being like the moon because like Dresden after the bombing, the moon is desolate. Also the craters in the moon represent the bombing that had gone on in Dresden. More so, when the book was written in 1969, readers didn't have the technology to see what a bombed city looks like. Thus when Vonnegut describes Dresden as the moon he's providing the common reader with a picture that they can easy imagine.
I agree with Shelby and a couple other people who already stated that the narrator did keep his promise to Mary O'Hare. He did not glorify the war. However, as I have stated in previous posts he didn't necessarily criticize war either (or at least not in the usual way). He doesn't blame anyone in particular. In fact, he doesn't even directly blame humanity in general. I think his point is that bad things happen. Bad things will always happen. There will always be evil in the world and there will always be people who want to stop it. So it goes. Life just is. There hasn't ever been a war where both sides thought that there could have been another way. During a war, it just seems like that's what had to happen in that moment in time and Vonnegut captures this mental state perfectly.
I really like the comment the narrator says about how "they will all want dignity." It is so true if you think about it. Everyone during his or her life is out looking for dignity, respect, or simply something that they can die proud of. Dignity can come in many forms, but it really is what everyone is after. No one wants to die a fool.
I agree with you Andrew that the aliens were likely interesting in Darwin because he is the only human who has recognized death's need. He saw that with each death humanity only got better. It agrees perfectly with the aliens' thought process because they also make every attempt not to see the sadness in death. They only see improvement and the happy moments that happen in life. Perhaps golf is where many of these happy moments happen for humans or for aliens. I actually have no idea if there is any symbolic reason for golf to be involved here. I actually think that Vonnegut was trying to add some comic relief again.
Vonnegut gives the perfect ending to the novel. At the beginning the reader has no idea of how "poo-te-weet?" was going to fit into a novel based on a masscare bombing. But along with all the other chaos in the novel it seems to fit making it a perfect ending.
I did not like the ending of the novel. It had no closure. When the story 'The Children's Crusade' ended, so did 'Slaughter House Five.' What happened to the narrator? Did he ever leave Boston or get reunited with O'Hare?
If we all think the story was good, than how come the narrator thought 'The Children's Crusade' was a failure?
I love the way that the narrator tied the book together in the end. I was shocked to find out that the narrator, O'Hare, and Billy were all in Dresden together! The last line was significant - Vonnegut metioned earlier in the novel that it is quiet after massacres. All in all, I enjoyed this anti-war book, which is unusual because they normaly just annoy me. The way Vonnegut keeps the reader interested by switching it around makes the novel enjoyable to read.
I do think that Vonnegut kept his promise to Mary about not portraying the war as glorifying. He showed just one example of how the war can effect a person’s life. Billy’s life was difficult and the damage to his mental stability was immense. He lost all of his credibility and was humiliated after he fought for the people making fun of him. Many people were killed at a young age and were forced to go through such tragedy. Vonnegut showed that nothing about the war is good, which is how Mary wanted it to be.
Dresden is described as the moon because it was hit by a bomb, and after a bomb hit, there is debris everywhere. There may also be "craters" in the Earth just like there are craters on the moon. I think the description fits Dresden very well. Not only is there debris and craters left from the bomb, but a big fat nothing is left too. The moon is basically barren just like Dresden was after the bomb exploded.
I also like the way that Vonnegut compared Dresden to looking like the moon. The bombs that hit created craters and made things fly everywhere. The debris and carnage that was left over from the bombing created a picture of death and hostility. The barren nature of what was left made me think of it being like the moon. There isn't too much going on up there, just like what Dresden post bomb explosion.
I very much enjoyed this book.I agree with Shelby that the narrator did keep his promise to Mary O'Hare. The narrator in no way,shape,or form glorified the war. Dresden is compared to the moon because it now has huge crators in it just like the moon. Except these crators were formed by man.
This book wasn't boring at all. I wasn't a real big fan of the war book we read in Honors English. I've come to relize after reading this novel that not all war books are bad.
I was not a huge fan of this book. I enjoyed parts of it, and I enjoyed the styles and techniques that Vonnegut employed throughout the novel, but I really disliked the protagonist, and it's hard for me to enjoy a novel when I dislike the main character.
On another note, my favorite quote from the book was the bird that exclaimed “Poo-tee-weet?” near the end of the novel. This quote makes absolutely no sense to the naked eye, but to some extent I feel that this is why Vonnegut used. So much of this novel revolved around the unchangeable truths of human life and questions that were often asked, but rarely answered. Often the chatter of birds can be marked of as "nonsense" or "silly", but I think that this is what Vonnegut intended. As much as "So it goes" represents the unchangeable, “Poo-tee-weet?” represents the questions that mean nothing in the dire straits of war.
I think that Dresden is described as being the moon because it is so empty. After the bombing there are hardly any people around. I wouldn't be surprised if there were actually areas that resemble craters on the moon. Also, they probably are still in shock and don’t even recognize the city. I think it fits because it’s almost as if their on another planet, or the moon.
Dresden is described as being the moon because it was completely destroyed and silent. The bombs made huge craters in the ground all around the city. There was nothing left of Dresden except for burnt and exploded buildings and the large group of American prisoners of war. I feel like Vonnegut described the scene with the Americans trying to find their way out of the city as if they really were on the moon, trying to climb out of craters and holes. I do think that describing Dresden as being the moon is a perfectly fitting description. This is, in part, due to the way Vonnegut describes the desolated terrain that the city now is and because there was absolutely no living soul besides the Americans and their guards left.
I, too, enjoyed the description comparing Dresden to the moon. It would certainly fit, because after being bombing, Dresden was surely desolate and filled with craters and debris, just like the moon.
“The wagon was green and coffin-shaped.” I love that description. It carries such beautiful contradiction. Green is supposed to symbolize nature and rebirth, and of course, a coffin is representative of death. I’m not sure whether this contradiction was intentional or not, but it certainly caught my attention.
This was definitely a very interesting book, and I liked the ending. The last few paragraphs are a fine way to end the book, and I believe that the narrator did keep his promise to Mary O’Hare. He didn’t glorify war in the least. Rather, he showed his readers the darker, more depressing side to all of the fighting and bloodshed. I don’t usually enjoy war novels, but I didn’t mind this one at all.
I think that Billy's story about Dresden is true, and I never doubted that. The time travel, however, is not solidified by the narrator and O'Hares presence. The time travel took place in Billy's head, he never physically left, only spaced out.
Describing Dresden as the moon is a fitting description. The land was bare with no color and had craters in the ground, just like the moon.
I think the idea of calling Dresden the moon fits perfectly. Dresden has been completely destroyed and all the bombing left craters in the ground. Describing Dresden as the moon creates the perfect image for the reader to really imagine how desolate and ruined the area of Dresden has become. This is the type of description that helps readers picture what is going on and see it for themselves.
I didn’t like the ending at all. I was hoping that the end would wrap everything up and give me more understanding about the book. I did like the coffin shaped wagon, and the final tweets of the bird. This was a very hard read for me and I’m just looking forward to the next book.
Having the narrator and O'Hare in Dresden only proves that particular part of the story, only proves that Billy was in Dresden at the time that it was bombed. No other events can be verified by this appearance, Billy could have easily imagined the time on Tralfamador.
Describing Dresden as being the moon is very accurate. After the bombing Dresden would have been vary desolate and uninhabitable.
I believe that the narrator kept his promise to Mary by showing his contempt for war. Through Billy, the narrator explains the horror that war creates. The bombing of the innocents of Dresden is just one of many terrible accounts that Billy explains. His own state of mind could be considered to be a side effect of war.
The finding of the first set of bodies was horrible to picture. It suggests that because of the bombings and mass destruction of the war that there is also a lot of unknown deaths to many people. We have the POWMIA and that is just to represent the soldiers that were never returned, but we forget about the number of civilians that never returned as well.
I don't like the idea of Dresden being the moon. Yes, Dresden is desolate, filled with craters, and vast, but the moon is something that war has never exactly touched. Dresden is only the war it is because people made it that way.
The way the book ends is my favorite. The way the bird chirps away a "poo-tee-weet" in the silence of the clean up cements the quote from the first chapter: "There is nothing intellegent to say about a massacre."
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