Uncover Happiness

To me, this commercial mainly uses Pathos, which is an emotional appeal. I say this because as you may have noticed, the commercial indirectly states that by drinking coca cola you will become joyous and have a wonderful time. The commercial encourages this not only with the song, which clearly promotes happiness and a "grand day," but with the situation as well. The people in the commercial are having the time of their lives and all seem to be extremely preppy and excited young men and women, which also makes coca cola seem more tempting and attractive. 

War's Prozac

You may wonder why Prozac is part of the title of this blog. Prozac is a common antidepressant that is consumed by many. Billy's Prozac were all his joyous moments, which were unfortunately not many. Why were these moments so scarce? Well, because Billy spent a great part of his life fighting in war.

This was also discussed in a previous blog entry, but now we can confirm it. The Tralfamadorians taught Billy to ignore the unhappy moments of life and just focus on the happy ones. How can someone live like this? By doing this you are simply creating and enclosing yourself in a bubble, meaning that there is little to no contact with the outside world or reality. Billy learned to ignore the horrors of war, which allowed him to accept it. At times, he remembered the moment in which he witnessed the suffering of horses and began to cry. This is only a small proportion of all the agony that comes with war. If war causes pain, why do so many people support it?


People believe that war is the only way to fight for your beliefs and stand up for the rights of people in a country. However, what about the rights of the people that are in the losing country? Do they not deserve the same rights? Is it fair for them to die severely? War only brings environmental damage, mass destruction, financial debt, death, and tensions between countries. There are many other ways to prove your point or to get across your ideas that do not involve violence or the killing of thousands of innocent people.

Excuses, Excuses

Now, we all know that Aliens do not exist. Well, we are not absolutely positive but I suppose we all have a pretty good reasons for believing that they do not. We, as readers, know that the experiences with the Tralfamadorians are all in Billy's imagination and most of us have concluded that Billy is completely insane, as I discussed in a previous blog. However, think about it, what is Billy was afraid to express what he truly believed in and he therefore chose to express his ideas with this unrealistic world?

Billy's experiences with the Tralfamadorians propose an alternate reality, which for some people may be considered as a utopia. This might just be Billy's utopia and the way that he believes that human's should live. Yet again, I doubt that Billy would believe that by narrating an experience with aliens, he would convince everyone of what the correct way of living would be. Well, it's just a possibility.

The Tralfamadorians encounters with Billy may also be reassuring to Billy. What I mean by this is that the Tralfamadorians may be Billy's alter-ego that provide comfort and happiness to him. Sigmund Freud once said that escaping reality and going into an unrealistic world is one of the ways to seek and feel pleasure. Tralfamadore may be Billy's alternate universe where misery does not exist. Is it possible that our main character has not gone completely insane and is actually an ordinary man seeking happiness?

Death As We Know It

Death is certainly one of those things that cannot be avoided and in chapter 5 we can notice that the Tralfamadorians also agree. I agree with Yvette, death is just one of those things that has to be accepted and no one can avoid it. We each have our own destiny and we can't change it, no matter what. We can see this in the story of the servant who saw death and died while attempting to escape from it.

Many people fear death because they don't know what will happen to their soul or body. Another reason behind fearing death is that people are afraid to leave their loved ones. Tralfamadorians believe that this fear of death is very "earthling." By earthling I mean that this is a fear that is very common amongst human beings and I cannot agree more.


Despite this, Tralfamadorians believe that not only death, but that everything in life is absolutely inevitable and that things are basically bound to happen. I agree with Yvette by disagreeing with the Tralfamadorians because there are certain aspects of our life that we can change. Sure, we cannot change death because it is a manner that is completely out of our hands, but we can change our job opportunities, relationships, etc. The Tralfamadorians in a way believe that they are hopeless concerning change. Imagine what would happen to us if we believed this, would we be prosperous? Would we strive to become successful? Would this be positive or negative?  

A Soldier Frozen In Time

I am clearly not a psychiatrist but I have had many experiences with characters in books that are mentally ill. The reader does not realise immediately that the character is suffering from a mental disorder and also loses sense of what reality is in the book. In slaughterhouse five we ca observe this with Billy Pilgrim. Pilgrim may be suffering from a severe mental disorder called Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, which results from psychological trauma.

Billy has witnessed extreme pain and suffering because of the war. In fact, as is mentioned in the book, Billy was present in one of Europe's greatest massacres, the bombing of Dresden. Imagine the impact that this may have had on Billy. Seeing all those people killed, families slowly disintegrating, and simply all the horrible emotions that came with war. This must have scarred Billy for life, causing him Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This would explain why Billy has no sense of reality and can travel back in time. We all know that sure one day this may be possible, but that for now travelling in time is not an option. One of the symptoms of PTSD is a loss of interest in activities and life in general, which is actually occurring to Billy in the book. Billy and Rosewater have both lost interest in life as is observed in the following phrases: "Rosewater was twice as smart as Billy, but he and Billy were dealing with similar crises in similar ways. They had both found life meaningless, partly because of what they had seen in war." (p. 101)  

Besides this, Vonnegut also mentions repeatedly that Billy is or was in a mental institution as a patient. We don't know if Billy is in the mental institution in the present or if this occurred early in his life. Could our main character, Billy Pilgrim, be in a mental hospital because of PTSD? 

Pilgrim's Inception

This whole book reminds me of a movie called Inception by Christopher Nolan. The movie is about a corporate spy and thief, Dom Cobb, who extracts essential information from the unconscious mind of people he wishes to harm or threaten while they are asleep. To extract valuable information Cobb uses the strategy of dreams within dreams. Billy, in my opinion, has lost sense of what reality truly is because he travels in time with his memories so often. In the movie, the main character has to carry a totem to be able to distinguish reality from dreams but Billy, in the book, does not carry a totem or anything close to it. This idea may sound absurd to many, but I'm not even aware of what Billy's reality is in the book. He believes that moments don't have a definite time lapse, but could our main character, Billy, actually be stuck in Limbo, a subconscious level in which a person loses his/her grip on reality and is trapped for an indefinite period of time? Which is Billy's reality? Is it the war?

Existentialism and the Tralfamadorians

When Billy was abducted by the Tralfamadorians he asked a why he was abducted. These extraterrestrials responded with a series of questions that actually pertain to existentialism, a type of philosophy. This connection may be seen because existentialism questions human existence. The uncertainty expressed in existentialism was also felt by Billy when he tried to find the reason behind why he was abducted. Apart from this, Billy's view of life was altered completely by the Tralfamadorians, which is what, in this period, existentialism accomplished. The extraterrestrials basically stated that all thoughts that question events that arise or existence are "human." This is because most of us, question absolutely everything and have trouble accepting the idea that there doesn't have to be a beginning, an end, or a reason behind everything. I don't necessarily believe in the existence of aliens but I do think that what Billy felt when he was abducted is what many of us feel when we are passing through moments of disgrace. When an obstacle arises I sometimes feel lost and unfortunate. I find myself saying, "Of all people, why did this have to happen to me?" Being abducted by the tralfamadorians could have been a positive experience for Billy because, as I stated before, his perspective of life changed. This can compare to what we feel after we have surpassed obstacles because we can learn from our mistakes and become stronger. 

The Power to Change

In Billy's office there was a prayer posted on Billy's wall that many of us could relate to, including myself.
This is:

"GOD GRANT ME 

THE SERENITY TO ACCEPT 

THE THINGS I CANNOT CHANGE,

COURAGE

TO CHANGE THE THINGS I CAN, 

AND WISDOM ALWAYS 

TO TELL THE 

DIFFERENCE."  

I found this prayer extremely meaningful because in the present of the book, or at least what the reader perceives as the present, Billy is in a German campground with Weary and has fallen asleep in his shoulder. Billy goes back in time and remembers this poem, which is gives hope to both him and his patients. In my opinion, Billy is unconsciously giving himself hope by travelling back in time to this moment to read over the prayer. The prayer extremely inspiring for me because there are definitely things in life that we all wish to change but unfortunately can't. To accept these things we need to face the truth, which takes courage because the truth is often difficult to accept. However, we can't always tell the difference between the things in life that we have the ability to change and can't. Billy can't change the fact that he's in a war just as I can't change the fact that as life progresses people get older and become susceptible to certain sicknesses. There are certain diseases in life that are not curable and if our loved ones are affected by them we must accept this with a lot of courage because it definitely hurts. However, I wonder, how can we be wise by concluding that something cannot be changed without losing all hope?  Is it wise to lose all hope? 

Why War?

This book definitely horrifies the reader as it describes the crude scenes that belonged to these wars. At the beginning of the chapter two men who once belonged to the three musketeers were brutally shot. The author does not describe this scene. Yet, the scene gives us an idea of how many people were killed during the wars. Throughout the book the author has used the term "So it goes" especially after he mentions the death of soldiers or innocent people, which adds a careless and casual tone to the piece. By using this term after a death is described, Kurt Vonnegut demonstrates that shootings and brutal deaths were extremely common, which of course makes sense because the book takes place in the middle of a war. However, it's still astonishing to me that the death of a father, brother, and just a family member in general could be of such little importance. I cannot imagine what family's must've suffered during this period with the deaths of their loved ones. After learning about war and the terrible experiences of others one would think people would change but there are still many people who believe that violence is only solved with more violence. Do people believe that violence makes them seem stronger or braver? Or is this because humans are naturally wicked and intolerant?

Trip Into The Past

I am not going to talk about the entire chapter in this blog entry. Instead, I would like to point out an idea that was expressed in the first pages of this chapter. Billy, our protagonist, states that he was kidnapped by aliens that come from "Tralfamadorian." He states that these Tralfamadorians believe that moments are never over, meaning that they continue eternally. When a person from this different place views a dead person they believe that the dead person is in a terrible state at that moment but don't consider that their life has ended. This was an extraordinary thought and left me in awe. Many of us, including myself, fear death and ageing. If we thought this way our whole conception of death and time would alter. Just think about it, wouldn't it be pleasant to relive moments of joy? To go back in time and truly embrace these moments?

If you really think about it, sure we can't travel back in time and experience things again, but the memories of those special moments do last forever. In our mind, we can relive joyous experiences or even bitter ones.

Just Children At War

The first chapter of Slaughterhouse Five is extremely interesting. The author, Kurt Vonnegut, expresses throughout the chapter that he has worked hard to write a book about the horrors that occurred in Dresden in 1945. In one point of the chapter the author is engaged in a conversation in which a man points out to him that writing an antiwar book is similar to writing an anti-glacier book. This is because war, according to this man, is inevitable and so is death. I find the part concerning death of this statement true. However, I do believe that there are certain ways to avoid war such as negotiating a peace treaty. Most wars nowadays occur because of a lack of toleration, whether it's religious or political. I believe we as people must learn to tolerate all the different ideas and embrace diversity. 

When the protagonist of the book went to visit a former friend and veteran of the war, Bernard V. O'Hare, his wife, Mary O'Hare, was extremely hostile to him. This was because she opposed war books because according to her, they made the men in the books seem heroes when they were actually children. She says this because she is clearly against war but I personally disagree with her. I do not support wars but I don't believe that the men who fight in them are immature. Even though there are different ways to solve problems, soldiers are extremely courageous and fight for their beliefs and their country. Therefore, I believe it is extremely unfair to compare them to immature children. 

The Perfect Life by John Koethe

This was an excellent poem and may be interpreted in many different ways. In my opinion, the main message portrayed by John Koethe is that when we die all our success and riches are left behind. I say this because throughout the poem, John Koethe mentions the perfection of his life. He apparently then observes his life and success from a different point of view, which I interpreted as being death. We may observe this in the last stanza: "Feelings of contentment, but the human dies, and what I take for granted bears a name to be forgotten soon, as the things I know turn into unfamiliar faces in a strange room, leaving merely a blank space, which closes over."

In life, we strive to achieve perfection and fight to reach success, causing us to not fully enjoy every moment. Some of us have lost the true meaning of life and are full of ambition. Ambition causes us to sometimes lose touch of loved ones, not appreciate what we have, and become impatient. A great amount of people have as a priority gaining money, which impedes them from feeling true happiness. They work only to gain a salary and are never fulfilled with what they accomplish.

The poem reminded me of a quote stated by Buddha: "Ambition is like love, impatient both of delays and rivals." In this quote, we can observe that ambition brings impatience along with it. Sometimes people never accept that there are always people that are going to be better than us or prettier or even stronger. They therefore treat everyone they consider better or equal to them as their rivals and struggle to beat them. This kind of person is never tranquil and is always watching what his/her peers or colleagues are achieving.

In conclusion, this is a fantastic poem and it reminds us that life is not about reaching perfection but should rather be enjoyed and valued.

Dante's Inferno and Poetic Justice

The Fourth Circle of Dante's Inferno, The Avaricious and the Prodigal, is extremely related to poetic justice. In this circle, the avaricious and the prodigal were forced to haul large and heavy rocks in a semicircle shape. The avaricious and the prodigal were obliged to go in opposite directions, they would eventually crash into each other. In my opinion the crashing symbolises that in life one must have a balance concerning how much money you spend. This ring is related to poetic justice because the people who didn't have this balance in life are being punished.