Initial Thoughts of Slaughterhouse Five (Chapters 1-3)

After reading a couple of chapters of Slaughterhouse Five, I have found both the book’s structure and plot to be quite interesting. At first I wondered how a book that focused in part on World War II could be funny? However, I have taken notice of many sentences or situations that I have found humorous. For example, in chapter 2 Weary is described as “Tweedledum or Tweedledee, all bundled up for battle” (p. 37). This not only illustrates the bulkiness of Weary but it also is pretty funny to picture. Also when describing Weary, Vonnegut lists a ridiculously long list of items that Weary has received from home. This is funny because it is unexpected (cognitive shift!) and, if you are like me, you probably just glanced over the items on the list. Another thing that I find humorous about this book is how Billy Pilgrim is displayed in a child-like manner. He is depicted as poorly trained, weak, unprepared, foolish, and basically unfit for the army. Even his name “Billy” gives him an immature quality as opposed to the more adult name of “William”. This book does a lot of jumping around between moments in Billy’s life. My favorite “flashback” or “flashforward” or whatever you’d call it moment so far is the one where Billy is captured by aliens… Or more specifically Tralfamadorians from the planet Tralfamadore. The word “Tralfamadorians” itself is funny but what is funnier is when Billy tells the world of his “alien abduction” and all of his revelations. His poor daughter thinks Billy has gone crazy and, honestly, I do not blame her! My initial thoughts of this book are that it seems intriguing and I am actually curious to see what happens in the chapters to come! Definitely beats Morreal, that’s for sure…