I chose to check out Rachel E's blog, cuz it's cool. (Sorry Judy, I can't do yours too because I don't have all the time in the world, but Ican see that you have some excellent material, good job mon amie :D)
http://bugs-trapped-in-amber.tumblr.com/rss
The Barking Dog
This is my favorite post on the blog, because I agree with the ideas within and I recall those conversations in class!
Rachel, you mentioned "I remember in class a few different ideas were brought up, one of which was that Vonnegut used it to signal that time still goes on, no matter what is happening."
For me, reading about that barking dog really snapped me into reality. I departed from that story, teleported back to Windsor, and was reminded that life and time and space just keep going on...they don't stop to see if the war victims are okay. Life and time and space, they don't care about you, they just keep going.
You also mentioned "there will always be something going on in another part of the world, and so, the dog will bark. If you are tongue tied because you’re meeting the most beautiful women (or most handsome man) in the world, life around you still continues, and so, a dog will bark."
This is so true, this is absolutely undeniable. All six billion people in the world are doing their own thing. No matter what's goin on with you, you're trying to start a relationship or cut your grass or watching TV or getting shot at in a war, life and time and space don't give a care about you, and neither do 99.9999999% of the other people in this world. EVERYTHING on this planet just goes on and on and on and on, and its not scared to move on without you.
It’s like this imaginary dog that is, as mentioned above, halfway across the world is a guard dog; bred especially for Billy Pilgrim. I think readers can identify with the idea of a guard dog barking, and it seems to be a better idea than a giraffe…well…I’m not even sure what sound giraffes make.
First of all, this is really cute and funny :P. The first sentence is kinda too deep for me, but I really like your thinking. And no, I don't know what sound giraffes make, but I WILL FIND OUT before I die!
Not only is this a very good blog post, but it's inspirational too! GIRAFFE NOISES FTW!
Vonnegut-Proud of Ashamed? Or Somewhere in Between?
I am full aware that I am to use these blog posts as launching pads for my own ideas, and I am free to disagree with them, but I agree with this post too. So I will just build on the ideas instead of contrasting.
In Slaughterhouse Five, I think Vonnegut expresses a positive attitude towards the German people.
Yerp, I like that. Lots of times in the book, the Germans do nice things for the Americans. Like when Dresden gets destroyed and the Americans go to that German Inn and accept the Germans' hospitality. Or when some of the Germans are sociable with the Americans and the Englishmen at the hospital. Or your own great example about when the Germans don't kill Billy and Weary on the spot, even though they could have.
I don’t think he makes them seem like horrible war fiends.
In my own very recent post, called Us and Them, I mention similar ideas. Ahahaha I love this line! The Germans aren't evil, Rachel, and they don't necessarily wanna kill and maim and shoot the individual American soldiers. They're just protecting their country and their leader's ideas :D. I agree with ya 100%.
I always felt like the American soldiers were the “bad guys” in the novel.
Yayuhhh. Especially when they party with the Englishmen at their shack, and they Englishmen aren't very pleased with the Americans' behaviour.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say the German’s are sympathetic, after all, it is a war, but they show a slight level of compassion.
I think I understand your thinking, but I actually have a slightly different opinion. I think the Germans really are sympathetic at times. They feel bad for the Americans, and they sometimes seemed to know and respect that these young men have dreams and lives and families back home.
Assimilation seems pointless to me, with assimilation, everyone seems to turn into carbon copies of one another
What a grand way to sum up assimilation. I never wouldda thought of something that great, 'carbon copies'. It's true!
Everybody Gets A Little Something...
When I first saw this title and read the first little bit, I was like, 'NO WAY!' but your ideas are presented in such a way that expresses an optimistic part of war, that it might actually have a function.
On the surface, like you say, war is just disgusting. The dirt and the blood and the bombings and the TERROR, ew, that's really scary!
Soldiers are educated about war in general, and about war techniques.
Yeah, that's true, but that wouldn't be important if there was just peace on earth. But yeah, optimistically, they can take these war skills to other wars.
Families are educated about the consequences of war.
I'm thinking they learn about terrible economy and they learn about survival skills. Tru dat, Rachel, and that is beneficial. Economy, in my opinion, is gross, and its more complicated than brain surgery and rocket science put together...(kinda like politics!!! -__-) and extra knowledge about this complex thing called economy could be beneficial to anybody! :D. And I'm sure that, during war, there are bomb drills and air raid drills and whatnot, those are useful too. I'd rather KNOW what do to in case of an air raid than NOT know what to do in case of an air raid!
And the government learns what to do, and what not to do when in a war.
Yes, they can learn from their own mistakes, and the mistakes of other g-g-ggovernments (GAH i hate that word!) Not even just about war, but they can take the lessons learned from war and apply them to other non-war political situations.
Then, when the war is over, prisioners of war recieve freedom.
Yeah, if they last that long (y). But if they don't, then they get death. A little something for everybody could be death! An end to suffering and fear!
Jobs are created because we need weapons and clothing and prepackaged food to send to the soliders who are fighting.
Yuppp, but when that war is over, we don't need to keep cranking out supplies and weaponry. But hey, a job is a job, temporary or not!
And, as evident by the baby boom after the second world war, war starts families!
LOL that's cute, love it Rachel.
Great post, great blog! :) (y)
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