Chapter 3: Entry #2

“Blood Brother”

“‘Blood Brother’ said a message written in pink paint on the side of a shattered grocery store” (Vonnegut 42). The phrase “blood brother” can mean two things: two males who are related by birth or a male is sworn to treat another man as his brother usually through a ceremony involving the mingling of blood.  I did some research and found that the origins of the “blood brother” dates back to a Norwegian warrior named Örvar-Oddr who wanted to fight his enemy Hjalmar, a Swedish warrior. When the battle began, there was much blood lost, and after two days of fighting, the battle ended in a draw. Both warriors saw that they were equals and decided to become sworn brothers by letting their blood flow under a strand of turf raised by a spear. Then, the strand of turf was put back during oaths and incantations. This is one of the first accounts of the “Blood Brothers” but it says that this type of brotherhood was very common in Ancient Mediterranean Europe.  I always thought that this phrase was contemporary. My guess is that in the novel it was a gang who wrote this phrase on the shattered grocery store. Pink is not the choice color for a gang but it shows that they used whatever they could find. Another thing that shows that it is a poor part of town is that it was written on a “shattered grocery store.”

Chapter 3: Foreshadowing

“There was another long silence, with the colonel dying and dying, drowning where he stood” (Vonnegut 48). This is an example of foreshadowing in the novel because Kurt Vonnegut is informing the audience that “Wild Bob” was in very bad condition and was about to die. Vonnegut doesn’t try to hide the fact that he is going to die because of the way he phrased it “with the colonel dying and dying.” He also informs the reader on how he will die too. He will suffocate or drown in his own blood. By saying “drowning where he stood,” this leads me to believe that he must have internal bleeding occurring. A few pages later it is revealed that “Wild Bob” does in fact die.

Chapter 2: Entry #2

“How did I get so old?”

            When Billy Pilgrim visited Pine Knoll, an old people’s home, his mother asked him a very intriguing question, “How did I get so old?” (Vonnegut 34). My grandparents will sometimes ask a question similar to Pilgrim’s mother’s question. My grandparents tend to ask it in a humorous way unlike the tone portrayed in the story. His mother’s tone seemed to be more somber and depressed. Although my grandparents’ tone is humorous, I am able to tell that they truly do wonder the same thing in a more serious attitude. This question is always on the mind of the aging. It seems as if their youth flies by, and they are stuck wondering why and how. This question flows very well with Billy Pilgrim’s “time travel” to the different years throughout his life. This helps to show that life passes quickly before our eyes and it will be close to the end before we know it. It seems as if one minute people are enjoying life as an adolescent and the next moment they are wondering, ““How did I get so old?”

Allusion- Chapter 2: entry #1

“The Three Musketeers pushed and carried and dragged the college kid all the way back to their own lines, Weary’s story went. They saved his God damned hide for him” (Vonnegut 31). An allusion is a reference to someone or something that is known from history, literature, religion, politics, sports, science or other branch of culture. In this case the allusion here is “The Three Musketeers.” The Three Musketeers is a very famous novel by Alexandre Dumas that later transformed into a movie/television shows, comics, games, etc. Roland Weary makes up this long exaggerated story to tell his family when he returns from war. He compares himself and the two other scouts to “The Three Musketeers.” This comparison is meant to make Weary and the two other men look like heroes. Weary and the two other scouts “save” Billy Pilgrim, who’s portrayed as the poor, helpless scholar in need of help. This makes the three men seem more heroic in their actions.

Chapter 1: Entry 2

In the novel, Kurt Vonnegut was visiting the house of Bernard O’ Hare trying to remember stories he could include into his Dresden book he was writing. Mary O’ Hare was obviously irate about something Vonnegut was a part of. When she left the room and “was moving all over the house, opening and shutting doors, even moving furniture around to work off anger” (Vonnegut 14). This is very entertaining because many people including myself can relate to this action. When someone or something happens and I am not too thrilled about it, I find myself doing something either to annoy or show the person I am not pleased with something they did or I work off my anger by participating in some physical work.  Mary was also very open with telling Kurt Vonnegut what infuriated her too. She was livid because she thought that they will “pretend they were men instead of babies, and they will be played in the movies by Frank Sinatra and John Wayne” (Vonnegut 14). She also felt like they would change the gloomy plot to make war look wonderful. This is very true with society today. Hollywood changes war movies and biographies around to make the action more appealing to the audience. In the movie Blind Side, they made Michael Oher appear as he had never played football before, but this is not true. Michael Oher had been playing football before he was taken in by his foster family. This just shows that Mary’s concerns are still relevant to the world today.

Indirect Characterization: Chapter 1

                “I have this disease late at night sometimes, involving alcohol and the telephone. I get drunk, and drive my wife away with a breath like mustard gas and roses. And then speaking gravely and elegantly into the telephone, I ask the telephone operators to connect me with this friend or that one, from whom I have not heard in years” (Vonnegut 8). This quote is an example of indirect characterization because his actions are revealing a few tendencies that Kurt Vonnegut exercises at nighttime which help the audience understand what type of person the author is. He refers to this obsession of drinking alcohol and calling old acquaintances as a disease because he must be doing this quite often. This obsession is not something he is able to stop doing. Vonnegut uses oxymoron to describe his breath and the way he talks into the phone. The fact that he describes his “breath like mustard gas and roses” and the way he talks into the phone is “grave and elegant” is also very humorous. These oxymoron shows that he feels that he is charming and inviting like roses, but at the same time he is polluted like mustard gas. Kurt Vonnegut also called old acquaintances that he had not heard from in years. This shows that he is a friendly man and likes to communicate with people from his pasts.