Friday, March 31, 2017
Slaughterhouse 5 - Chapters 2 and 3
Over the break you must read chapters 2 and 3 of the novel. Following the examples of chapter 1 in class, find something interesting to say in chapters 2 and 3 of anything that relates to the idea of knowledge and power. Have fun, enjoy the novel, and say something interesting. This post is due on Sunday, April 9th.
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31 comments:
Deniz Somuncuoğlu
10-E 156
Mr. Farley
Knowledge and Power
The novel “Slaughterhouse Five” gives so many predictions of who controls the knowledge and who has the power. In chapter two, the reader is introduced to a character called Roland Weary, who is a soldier in World War II. When the author describes Weary’s equipment, he mentions several basic soldier equipment, “bullet-proof bible, a pamphlet entitled ‘Know Your Enemy,’ another pamphlet entitled ‘Why We Fight,’ and another pamphlet of German phrases… ‘Where is your headquarters,’ ‘Surrender, your situation is hopeless…” The Bible is a symbol of religion and is a source of knowledge controlled by christianity. And war is not a good thing in religions. So the fact that it is a “bullet-proof” Bible, suggests the reader that the group that controls religious knowledge is changing. In wars, for the past hundred years, the power is not with religion or ethics anymore, it is in the government’s hands. This suggestion is srenghtened by the other items in Weary’s inventory. Two pamphlets that, from the looks of it, gives a brief “knowledge” about why the reader is in a battlefield right now. So this suggests that the one who reads it doesn’t really know why he is in a battlefield. Also, the government wrote these pamphlets to only share the knowledge that will make the soldiers want to fight, and none more. And the German pamphlet which only has phrases that can be used in victory, so that the American soldiers have no choice but to win. And if they lose, they won’t know how to say “have mercy,” or “we surrender.” So again, here, the government control which knowledge passes through and which doesn’t, even with soldiers that are fighting for them.
Knowledge and Power in the book
In chapter 2 after Billy gets into a plane crash then he starts to talk about being unstuck in time. Billy describes the aliens (Tralfamadorians) as the ones in power. He also states that they have the knowledge to see 4 dimensions and they pity humans for only seeing 3. Billy says that the aliens want to spread the knowledge of time and teach it to humans. What really caught my eye was a anecdote of Billy which goes like “When a tralfamadorian sees a corpse all he thinks is that dead person is in a bad condition in that particular moment, but that same person is just fine in plenty other moments. Now when I hear that someone is dead I just shrug it of and say so it goes”. This anecdote made me think about the past and the present. If you had the power to control the flow of time then you would have all the power in the world. Of course no one believes Billy but he still continues to work on his letters. In his worlds he devotes his time to something much more higher than just mere business. Billy comes to realize these aliens when he gets unstuck in time. He is at the present time but he has very vivid daydreams about the past or the future. In these dreams he feels powerful. He also has the knowledge of that power so he wants to dream all the time. His encounter and his rigid belief in the aliens may be a mental disease and the result of his strong imagination. When he was at war a fat lonesome guy who was getting ditched all the time by his friends bullied him. In their relationship one could say the bully held the power. His way of making friends was impressing them with useless stuff then beating them up for a reason that made no sense. Although he saved Billy from dying a lot of times. I don’t think Billy was mentally fit to fight a war so that doesn’t justify it.
In the novel “Slaughterhouse Five” the author gives tons of ways how people can communicate with and therefore, influence each other. These communication and interaction organs are controlled by one part of the society. That being said, they have control over the news and rumors that the audience part of the society hear & learn about. This is directly related to the idea of power and knowledge in the book because the “editors” of the knowledge choose the part they want the audience to hear and the part that they want them not to hear. This gives them power over the audience. This can be demonstrated with the most basic example: people keeping some of their relationships and interactions with the government secret so that they earn lots of money without the others knowing it. One day, somebody who has hard-earned money will most likely not be able to buy the house that she/he wants and will be shocked when seeing that this other gentleman has much more money than him. Likewise, as it says in the book, the University of Chicago professor, a member of The Committee of Social Thought, ignores Kurt Vonnegut when he mentions the Dresden book that he’s writing and gives Hitler’s Germany and concentration camps as a worse example. This makes it crystal clear that his intention is to dodge what the Americans did in Dresden and avoiding the information to spread as much as he could using the power he has that comes from his knowledge.
Billy Pilgrim continues his life with memories of different times in his own life. He has been called as spastic in the novel because of his perspective and style of speaking, which was beyond his control. He travels at different times about his birth, childhood, and death. Sometimes he remembers the years about he was a successful optometrist, and sometimes he was a tragic person who only managed to survive from a plane crash. The complexity in the inner world of him was so big and deep that's why he creates a planet called Tralfamadore and emphasizes the interesting point of view of those living there. Even his own daughter thinks that he was a senile because of the unrealistic theories that he has invented. But all this fiction is actually a reflection of the psychological breakdown he had because of the destruction he had seen in Dresden and this has implicated in a very simple way in the introduction of chapter two. "Listen: Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time." This introduction arouse a fascinating curiosity in the mind of the readers about the things have happened at that time. Another important detail is the continuous use of the "it goes" motive in these chapters; when Billy's wife dies of carbon monoxide poisoning, when his father dies in a hunting accident, when Billy becames the only survivor on a plane crash -which shows death is an ironic fact too-. It is also seen that the use of the "it goes" motive after the description of a situation as severe as death, means that not too much emotional significance has given to these deaths by him who has actually been in a war that led him see much more serious deaths. On the other hand, it can be explained as Billy choosed to internalize the Tralfamadorian perspective instead of thinking about the inevitability of death, actually he maybe thinks that the person who died actually died for a certain time, but was alive at other times of his or her whole life, and those memories could be visited again and again. So in other way "it goes" motive, could be a sign shows how a war veteran overcome death. Briefly, the second and third chapters caused me to make a wide varierty of inferences and increased my curiosity. They were also very important chapters which demonstrates the strength of the fiction.
Slaughterhouse 5 is a book that should be considered deeply upon it. When you deeply think on sentences there are many symbols and motifs that makes story more interesting and take attention to relation between knowledge and power. Chapter 2 is starting with “Listen: Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time.” sentence. It's like a single sentence summary of what a war can accomplish in a person's mind. Billy is main character who seems spastic from outside but when I think on his memories told in book and his situation, I remembered scientist thoughts about ahead of knowing is craziness. They are saying that cause of craziness is knowing over your capacity. Also we see some religion symbols that represents spiritual knowledge. There are always a why question that takes readers attention. ‘That is a very Earthling question to ask, Mr. Pilgrim. Why you? Why us for that matter? Why anything? Because this moment simply is. Have you ever seen bugs trapped in amber?’ … ‘Well, here we are, Mr. Pilgrim, trapped in the amber of this moment. There is no why.’” The most important part of this sentence is “There is no why.” because there are people that trying to learn and know something but there is a power that blocks them. There is a war but most of the soldiers don’t know why they’re fighting. On the imaginary planet of Billy, Tralfamadore, dozens of things are being questioned. I think continuing parts of the story will show us the knowledge of Billy under his craziness and his difference from who silenced by power.
Mert Karaydın
Kurt Vonnegut has a unique style. Every content in his writings have further acknowledges that we have to pick up on. Vonnegut brings up serious topics in very casual ways. In “Slaughterhouse- 5”, Vonnegut wants us to understand the relation between knowledge and power. Based upon these information I got stuck in a scene. Billy stared into the boots of a commander and saw Adam and Eve in golden depths. Than narrator describe Adam and Eve as so innocent, so vulnerable, so eager to behave decently and states that Billy Pilgrim “loved them”. This scene is quite short and seems shallow but Adam and Eve is a very important context. As Vonnegut style he brought a serious topic in a very casual way; in a commander’s boot. According to an essay in Imagejournal.org Dan Wakefield stated Kurt Vonnegut as a Christ-Lover Atheist. Kurt Vonnegut most probably finds religion as a controlled knowledge. We know that Adam and Eve are innocent, vulnerable and decent but also we know that they are the first couple that commit sin. How do we know these knowledge? From holly books. Where does these books come from? Did some group of powerful person write these books to control the knowledges? These are thought provoking questions that most probably Vonnegut was asking these questions to himself. He is soldier and after seeing the bad side of humanity, it is very normal to question our ethics. That is why I think he wanted to add Adam and Eve motif.
Emir Kutay 10E 209
In chapter 2, it is mentioned about an alien race “Tralfamadorians” which has control over time. They can simply look over time whether its past, now or future. They have power on time which humans don’t as it mentioned in the begging of the chapter. Billy’s uncontrollably and randomly travels through time make reader saw that he has no control over time and make him referred as spastic in time. He has no power on controlling time. “The creatures were friendly, and they could see in four dimensions. They pitied Earthlings for being able to see only three. They had many wonderful things to teach Earthlings, especially about time.” (Vonnegut 26) As it said, humans don’t have knowledge about everything. Of course, Tralfamadorians are fictional, but it is true that there is lots of things that we don’t know and someone else or some other creature does or no one does not know. Knowledge is power for Tralfamadorians because they pity for humans that they don’t know about something. And now here is something else that humans know but, animals don’t as it mentioned in chapter 3; war… “She had never been to war before. She had no idea what game was being played.” (Vonnegut 52) Humans know about war because they have sources to know about it even they haven’t been in a war. However, animals don’t. So, even humans know something better than animals, there is another species as Tralfamadorians that know something better than human.
Kurt Vonnegut can aphesis the idea in chapter 1. So, he gets in the issue directly. He has a clear language. Vonnegut gives the idea of power by using Billy. In chapter 2, we do not see Billy as everyone else in his life sees him, we see the entirety of his life come together to define him. He is the protagonist of the story. And ın chapter 2, Vonnegut always refer the theme death. He sympathize by telling that Billy’s father dies in a hunting accident, and Billy’s wife dies of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning on her way to visit him in the hospital after the plane crash. And in chapter 3, Billy shows signs of the strain that comes from the hopelessness of war. But he didn't give up. He is a soldier and a human. Humans have that violence but we don't want to kill humans. But it's that that simple in wars. The side which kills most, win the war. And that situation they want to kill.
Throughout the history, there were always conflicts between societies, religions, ethnicities and countries due to the different perceptions of knowledge and power. Kurt Vonnegut, successfully demonstrated these concepts in chapters 2 and 3, through one of the most obvious, common, and bitter outcomes: war. Slaughterhouse Five, constantly makes us question the apprehension of “human dignity” and “ethics” in a time period where tons of massacres are present in the sake of pride. Roland Weary, a former soldier that saved Billy’s life, idolizes medieval crusaders and the Three Musketeers, always carries a Bible, and is willing to die for his army. War is war, and death is death. However, in order to be a hero, there should always be victims and villains. Ethics make no sense when circumstances can change their presence. Governments create an illusion where killing is acceptable in the sake of heroism, in order to gain more power.
Time is a concept which is discussed quite a few times by the author, in the book. Billy makes his own arguments about it by making references to Tralfamadorians, an alien society which he claims that exists. Billy’s daughter, however, thinks his father is going insane, and questions his knowledge. The interesting thing is, knowing Billy’s whole story (Vonnegut demonstrates it at once, in the first chapters), doesn’t change the fact that we will keep on reading the book. Time is, indeed, a quirky subject.
Kurt Vonnegut has a very different writing style compared to other authors lived in his time. In the novel, Vonnegut wants us to understand the strong connection between knowledge and power. During chapter 2's beginning, we are introduced to an alien race called "Tralfamadorians" which can control time. Billy states that aliens have the knowledge to see 4 dimensions and humans only seeing 3. We can see this from the quotation; “The creatures were friendly, and they could see in four dimensions. They pitied Earthlings for being able to see only three. They had many wonderful things to teach Earthlings, especially about time.” (Vonnegut 26) As from the quotation, aliens want to teach civilians of the Earth about the and the knowledge and power behind it. It is clear that these "aliens" are fictional, however by using this symbol Vonnegut helps us to understand that, there are still many things that humankind still do not know and understand about. Also, he shows that knowledge is power for the race of aliens by showing us how aliens pity humans for things they do not know about. (Vonnegut 26)
In chapter two, Weary and Bill had a talk about starts with Weary showing Bill his trench knife. Weary explains Billy why the blade is triangular and then blames him for not knowing anything. Billy defends himself with saying he had just six months in college and that was just a “Joe College”. Their talk finishes with Weary with saying, “There is more to life than what you learned from books.” There are much to say in reference to their talk. Firstly, this conversation suggests the idea of being powerful can exist in different ways like physically, mentally, etc. and most importantly being powerful because of the knowledge you have. Weary shows his trench knife to Billy right after being fired upon which means Weary is mentally more powerful because of the lethal trench knife he has which was a present from his father and not a government issue. In war, while governments, “powers” are fighting, it is obvious that actually the soldiers are fighting. In history the reason a country won against another it was not because of who is the country or the number of soldiers. It was often because of the how well-trained soldiers are or combination and advancement of the equipment of the soldiers. Therefore the way something is powerful is most of the time connected to knowledge.
Kurt Vonnegut has a unique style; his work can get differentiated than the others because of the experiences he has got. He writes from the aspect of a man who survived through the second world war. In chapter 2 there are creatures named Tralfamadorians and they know how to control time as well as they could see the 4 dimensions. Though they thought the Earthlings were incapable of doing these, they were friendly to them. ‘The creatures were friendly, and they could see in four dimensions. They pitied Earthlings for being able to see only three. They had many wonderful things to teach Earthlings, especially about time.” (Vonnegut 26)’ The author wants us, the humans to question what we know here. Because most of the people think that they know every inch of this gigantic universe where as they actually are not aware of anything. The Tralfamadorians are fictional characters and they symbolise the writing skills of Kurt Vonnegut, his deep thinking skills, his mind and also how this work is a piece of art. He makes us think about many questions by only putting one character in the novel.
Slaughterhouse 5 - Can Umut 10/D
The novel Slaughter 5 written by Kurt Vonnegut is made up of many crucial yet subtle clues regarding the balance of knowledge and power that influences and somewhat controls our community. Starting from childhood young children gain their knowledge from a certain amount of sources, mostly from their parents and schools. This learning procedure influences children and builds their character, hence the fact: Knowledge or controlling knowledge is power over others. Schools all around the World teach very different things to students, they control the knowledge the residents of their countries acknowledge which results in them controlling the residents as a result. What if the people started realising the false knowledge, they would start questioning everything that they have been fed from these so called “reliable” sources, and that is precisely what Kurt Vonnegut is motivating people into doing in this novel. The night bombings that happened in Dresden which is the main topic of the novel were overlooked by the americans since it made them look bad, and like many other countries they fazed out the topics that made them look wrong from the knowledge that is being fed to the citizens. The narrator also says many sentences that imply how we, the citizens are under control by the ones who control different types of knowledge in several different areas religion etc. For example the author subtly gives the reader a clue by saying the bible that Weary had on his chest was bulletproof. The Bible is a very reliable source of religious knowledge that has a major influence on a vast population, the bullet proof bible implies that how religions can be manipulated in order to control the people that it has an impact on and how it is indeed bulletproof since no one will dare to question it.
Slaughterhouse 5 successfully demonstrated how Kurt Vonnegut's book makes you question who decides what knowledge we get ? Is knowledge power? These questions are just a fraction of questions we ask ourself while we read chapter 2 and 3. The author symbolizes every idea sometimes they are obvious and sometimes they are not but when we look deeper we start questioning everything. For example Bill gets abducted by aliens they tell him that humans know nothing and that they pity humans and how they cannot see what they see. Aliens clearly show a superior knowledge than human beings and they have been used as a symbol of superiorness in many movies and books. We know that Tralfamadorians are fictional but its a perfect symbol for superior knowledge to use. The 2 chapters also talk about the relationship between power and knowledge how power is knowledge itself and it uses war as an example as how knowledge is the core of wining a war and its now how many soldiers the government has actually its about how well trained the soldiers are. Kurt Vonnegut really is a mysterious author with lots of ideas to give birth to.
Power and knowledge
Does knowledge equal power? Can knowledge be manipulated by the ones in power? These are questions being asked in "Slaughterhouse 5" several times. Nobody really knows to answer to it, because there is always someone with more power, knowing more detail. In chapter 2, we get to know a little bit more about the creatures from Tralfamadore. Since they don't experience time like we Earthlings do, Billy Pilgrim starts learning from them as he stays in their planet. Seeing them as his teacher due to the amount of knowledge they say to have, which puts them in a place more powerful than Billy. When Billy comes back to the Earth, he feels the need to share the knowledge he now possesses but his daughter, Barbara, thinks she has power over him and tries to stop him from sending letters to be published, even though she obviously has less knowledge about this than Billy does. In chapter 3, before Billy is taken to the train but after he gets caught by German soldiers, a photographer takes his friend's and his feet's pictures. The picture is shown proof of how poor American Army actually is, when in reality all the soldiers that are being held captive had their goodies taken off of them and were forced to change with the things German soldiers were wearing. The ones in power at that given moment, German soldiers and the photographer, were able to manipulate civilians idea on American Army and America's reputation on being rich. Even in the first few chapters Kurt Vonnegut gives the answers to the questions he is asking, so he himself isn't questioning these but he is making us question the odd relationship between power and knowledge.
SLAUGHTERHOUSE-5 Ulas Bozdag 10-D
The novel “Slaughter House Five” written by Kurt Vonnegut certainly gives messages about controlling power and knowledge hidden behind the sentences. In chapter two, the book introduces a new character named as Roland Weary, an 18 year old soldier who saved Billy’s life. Roland carries a bulletproof bible with him during the war, and pamphlets entitled in German phrases rendered in English phonetics. The bible is a strong symbol referring to the religion, and it’s known that Kurt Vonnegut is an Atheist who founds religion as a source of knowledge. It’s known that bible opposes the general idea of war and it’s described as “bulletproof”, which is an important detail giving a clue about how well protected it is. Also it proposes the group of people controlling religion is having an effect on soldiers. Most of the time when soldiers are being sent to the war, they are encouraged by the ecclesiastics and the bible to fight, explaining them the god wants them to fight. When it’s about religion, people can’t controvert instead they just do what they are being told without hesitation. At that point we clearly see that religion controlled by government is playing a part in sending soldiers to war by manipulating their minds. Moreover, when we go back to Roland’s inventory we see that he has pamphlets giving knowledge about why they are fighting. In that concept, we can understand that normally soldiers don’t know why they are fighting; therefore they read the pamphlets in order to figure out. With these pamphlets, government manages to create an illusion where killing is agreeable and soldiers have no choice except winning the war. If they lose there are no pamphlets telling them how to surrender anyway. Based on above, it’s apparent that government uses the power of knowledge to manipulate and control the other people.
In the novel “Slaughterhouse Five” Kurt Vonnegut has a different style than the other authors. It estimates who has the power and who controls the knowledge. Vonnegut gives the idea of power by using Billy. During chapter 2, the author presented Billy who describes the aliens (Tralfamadorians) as the ones in power. They have power which humans don’t as that they look over time past, now or future according to the beginning of the chapter.e has no power on controlling time. What makes Billy different than them is he travels through time without any control and appear to be spastic in the time. He has no power on controlling time. Kurt Vonnegut wants us to understand his point about humans don’t have knowledge about everything even the Tralfamadorians are not real. Tralfamadorians sees knowledge as a power because it makes them superior than humans. There is another thing that humans know but, animals don’t which is their sources for the war. Vonnegut helps us to understand there things that humans still don't know and explain. He also shows how aliens pity humans for things they don't know.
Evren Durmaz
10-E 223
Kurt Vonnegut has a unique characteristic and tone; his work can get differentiated than the other author, because of the experiences he has. He writes from the aspect of a man who survived in the middle of the second world war through the end. In chapter two aliens named Tralfamadorians put this time concept in my mind and after that time through now, he see some memories from childhood and also from future. Billy wants to die because he didn't want to live anymore but his friend try to take him away from that thought. Tralfamadorians sees the time as a power because humans can' see the past and also the future but they can so. This means that they are more powerful that the humans. Another point that I think religion controls the government. We understand that religion is also a power because all the soliders that has been sended to war, encouraged by the reverand and the bible to fight and save that religion.
Kurt Vonnegut is a writer that has a different and unique writing style. In the novel “Slaughterhouse-Five”, he demonstrates the connection between knowledge and power. For example, he supports that if we can’t change the time and control our choices, then there is not such thing as free will. In our lives, we are told that the choices we make affect our future and life so to sum up, we have free will. But in the novel the writer supports the idea that we don’t have free will, everything we come through has written by God. So it is the power of religion.
Slaughterhouse Five- Power and Knowledge
Kurt Vonnegut used an very unpredictable and unusual way to writing this novel. In the novel we can see a lot of symbols and hidden ideas and one of them being the relation between knowledge and power. This idea of knowledge versus power can't be clarified that easily in the book the main character Billy tell us that the aliens are the ones who have the most power however it is also said that the aliens sees knowledge as a source of power since it makes them superior than the humans. When Billy comes back to the world he wants to spread the knowledge by sending letters but her daughter sees her self more powerful than him so she tries to stop him. In this novel its shown how manipulation affect the relation between power and knowledge. Since the american army isn't doing that great the germans debunked the whole scenery of americans being superior in the civilians ideas. This is how Kurt Vonnegut shows his ideas not directly and the reader has to found these ideas trough out the book and connect these ideas to see the bigger picture.
The author Kurt Vonnegut made up a very good novel related to his life. He really questioned is there any knowledge that we can certainly relay on? In the second chapter of “Slaughterhouse five” we see a new kind of creature that created by the author. In the book, they named these creatures (aliens) as “Tralfamadorians”. Lately, there is rumor about aliens that in area 51 America is hiding aliens to examine them. In the novel Bill tells that he had kidnaped and examined by aliens. Our protagonist’s life doesn’t go in a linear progression like other novels, it proceeds in a cyclical. However, Tralfamadorians can control their time. They can really see things from the fourth dimension and that starts the difference between humans- Tralfamadorians. Kurt Vonnegut used this imaginary creature in his other novels too. Bill’s life is like other ordinary lives he had his dividing point after the plane crash; he had some injuries, he lost his wife and her dad. This is one of the reason why his talk doesn’t make any sense. In the second chapter there is a criticization of dads’ “sink-or-swim” too. This belief rely upon humans surviving instincts and humans have that instinct since they created. It is a very wrong because you can’t learn a thing without trying it several times or being trained by others.
Zeynep Ozkaya - Slaughterhouse
Kurt Vonnegut is a unique author because of his experiences he made through. Being a war can sound simple to someone but the effects of it can change of a person's lifestyle like Kurt Vonnegut. In the novel slaughterhouse five, The idea of power and knowledge is told with the background of war in the novel. First of all, the protagonist, 18 year old soldier, Billy was told mainly in chapter 2 and the new character Roland Weary who saved Billy's life. Roland was carrying a bulletproof bible in the war with him. Bible is a strong knowledge for christianity. It should be questioned that why soldiers are carrying bible. It it known that religion books, bibles support people who are fighting for the country. At the whole picture, they emphasize it by saying God wants you to fight. In here it can be understood how knowledge has power of people. In this world there are two major power, one of them is knowledge and the other one is money. Another example which is time for knowledge and power relationship was told in chapter 2. As it is told in chapter 2, there is race called “Tralfamadorians”. They can see future, now or past whenever they want. This provides some kind of power over humans. Because in the novel they underestimate human because they cannot see four dimensions, they can see just three. It can be understood from Billy's travel. He had no control over time. Controlling the time is some kind of a knowledge and it is “Tralfamadorians”'s power. They have power over humans by pitying them about the things they do not know. As I said there are interesting relations with power and knowledge in chapter 2 and 3. And they became more specialized with the experiences of the author.
Alin Gurdikyan
10-D / 599
Kurt Vonnegut, the writer of " Slaughterhouse Five", has a unique style of writing and taste of character. He gives messages about controlling power and knowledge hidden behind the sentences. Power and knowledge is main source and every sentence prove this thought. Also, Vonnegut wants us to understand the relation between knowledge and power. for instance, it says if we can't change the time and control our choices by ourself, then that just mean free will is a dream and we are not living. our Daly life, we are the future. we are the one who decide every single thing that we want to do. But in the novel it's different then all we know. the writer have that idea about everything we do, wants and thoughts are made by god. this knowledge gives us power of religion. or for another example we can give you in billy's perspective because when the author introduce us billy and this person talk about the aliens, Tralfamadorians, most powerful creatures. they have ability of time traveling. They can go past and future which humans can't do it. the point is humans don’t have knowledge about everything even the Tralfamadorians are not real. Tralfamadorians sees knowledge as a power that why between human and Tralfamadorians have statues of power. So it gives us power and knowledge has a contact in the novel.
Slaughterhouse Five:
Kurt Vonnegut has a very different style of writing from the other writers. In this novel of Kurt Vonnegut he tells the second world war from a survivor's eyes. In chapter 2 there are creatures named Tralfamadorians. They have some special abilities. They can control the time. These creatures were very friendly to the people. Kurt Vonnegut wants the readers to question what we know or the things we know are actually true. People think that they know everything.
Emir Isik
10-D 102
"Slaughterhouse Five", written and narrated by Kurt Vonnegut, is the kind of novel you'll drag yourself into without knowing. It is a very uncommon type of novel made up of many events that the narrator -also the writer- has gone through in WWII. The narrator gives very deep messages about manipulation of power and knowledge in his writing. In chapter two, we meet the character "Rolan Weary" who's a soldier which saved Billy's life, and get introduced to Billy's time-traveling abilities which Kurt Vonnegut contrasts later on as looking back in time. This character we meet in chapter two, Rolan, carries pamphlets and a bulletproof bible with his soldier equipment at war. This gives us the clue of religion being used to manipulate the soldiers. However, religions do not support war and this idea is a contradiction to religion manipulation, hence the bible being "bulletproof" shows a change within the group of people controlling the religion. Usually when soldiers are being sent to war, they are heartened by the bible to fight for their religion. Under their religion, people's thoughts are oppressed and they act without hesitation, thinking what they're doing is for their religion and the god they believe. This precisely shows us that religion controlled by a higher authority is manipulating soldiers to make them fight for their own good. Also, the phamplets in Roland's inventory are more evidence that the higher authority uses it's power of knowledge to manipulate people because the soldiers use them to learn why they're fighting.
In the novel Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut made the readers deeply focus on some important points for taking messages. He is expecting from the readers to understand the relation between power and knowledge. He gave some nice clues for it. For example the aliens. Billy Pilgrim is a guy who is the only survivor on a plane crash in Zermatt. That catastrophic incident changed his life. He starts to make researchs about the aliens (Tralfamadorians). He claims that aliens are real, and they are really intelligent and their knowledge is a way further than people's knowledge. Also he wants to show that people could not go out from their shells. They don't know what is going on outside their planet. They don't want to leave their order and know new things. In World War nearly the same things happened. People were always informed wrong by media and government and can't see the truths. Kurt Vonnegut witnessed this situation by his eyes, thats why he wrote this book.
The novel''Slaughter Hause Five'' was writen Kurt Vonnegut who deployed in 1943 to europe to fight as mentioned in book he captured during the battle of the buldge and also as mentioned in the book he went dresden. He is the author. In chapter 2 I see some examples of trying to use knowlage as a power to controll people. In chapter 2 Roland, an pow, desribed with a bulletproof bible which is a symbol to emphasize the power of religon. Also in chapter 2 billy is claims that alliens had abducted him and he says alliens teach the time flow to humans. This shows that knowlage of the time, ability to controll it is one of the greatest power that a human has.
In the novel "Slaughter House Five" written by Kurt Vonnegut, mentions important theme words that we'll have to learn in order to understand the meaning of the novel. Knowledge and power are as basic definition are not similar to each other, however the novels topic comes from these two words. The novel is about the war, from the authors perspective. One of the most important things are knowledge. However if someone does not have the power over some certain crew the knowledge cannot be seen. However if someone as power and not knowledge than, the power don't mean a thing. These two are not separable and will not be, if they do separate then there won't be a huge impact as it was shown and told in the novel.
Zeynep Tezel
10-E 169
Slaughterhouse 5 is an American classic written by Kurt Vonnegut. It's about the truth behind the firebombing of Dresden. The protagonist of the novel Billy, explains what really happened in Dresden with a fantastic journey and black humour. In chapter 2, Billy meets with the Tralfamodorians. Tralfamodorians are aliens with the power of seeing all the different moments in one look. Through this chapter, the writer critizes humans for not having a good vision like these aliens. Aliens have the knowledge of what really happened in someone's life with the help of their ability, but humans can only see the surface. In chapter 3, a small group of German irregulars, take their valuables and discover an obscene photograph in Weary’s, Billy's friend's pocket. And Billy lies about it. Later on, Billy falls asleep and wakes up in 1967, in the middle of administering an eye examination. He stars to discover the truth behind the surface.
In chapter 2 the saying "unstuck in time" takes the interests. Billy Pilgrim starts travelling in time and the reader sees his unordered timeline. For summarizing his timeline; the most interesting parts are his father's pushing him to the pool and using the method of "sink or swim", then his plane crush, war memories, having kids, cheating on a party, his wife, his father etc. dying... So many ironic deaths related by the saying "so it goes". Those events actually have a relation with the chapter 1. In chapter 1, moviemaker Harrison Starr was declaring the thought of writing an antiwar book is so ineffective like writing about glaciers. And the other ironic thing is that death do not make discriminations. However, Billy Pilgrim is always surviving and the reader always know that he will survive. About knowledge; in chapter 2 there is personal and procedural knowledge. He is gaining that knowledge according what he passes on. In chapter, the reader sees Billy Pilgrim's insanity and his madness. Vonnegut shows confines of reality and fantasy are blurs. Also, in this chapter the concept of free will was taking so much interest. However, it is ironic that Billy's fantasies are showing up without free will, and i think that Vonnegut was trying to show that the concept of free will is as blurry as Billy's boundries. So it is about power. We have so little power then we think we have maybe.
In chapter 2 the saying "unstuck in time" takes the interests. Billy Pilgrim starts travelling in time and the reader sees his unordered timeline. For summarizing his timeline; the most interesting parts are his father's pushing him to the pool and using the method of "sink or swim", then his plane crush, war memories, having kids, cheating on a party, his wife, his father etc. dying... So many ironic deaths related by the saying "so it goes". Those events actually have a relation with the chapter 1. In chapter 1, moviemaker Harrison Starr was declaring the thought of writing an antiwar book is so ineffective like writing about glaciers. And the other ironic thing is that death do not make discriminations. However, Billy Pilgrim is always surviving and the reader always know that he will survive. About knowledge; in chapter 2 there is personal and procedural knowledge. He is gaining that knowledge according what he passes on. In chapter, the reader sees Billy Pilgrim's insanity and his madness. Vonnegut shows confines of reality and fantasy are blurs. Also, in this chapter the concept of free will was taking so much interest. However, it is ironic that Billy's fantasies are showing up without free will, and i think that Vonnegut was trying to show that the concept of free will is as blurry as Billy's boundries. So it is about power. We have so little power then we think we have maybe.
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