English Notes
September 13, 2013
Video clip bombing of Dresden, Germany:
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Actions of war were justified to end the war.
Intentions of the bombing of Dresden—to end war, crush spirits of Axis powers (Japan, Italy,
Germany)
Thousands of lives were lost—massive piles of human remains set on fire since it would be
impossible to dig that amount of graves
This calls into question the morality of war? (Is war moral?)
Chapter 4 pages 73-75:
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Billy goes into his daughter’s room—she is grown and on her honeymoon.
The phone rings and the narrator is on the other line (his breath smells of roses and mustard
gas)
Billy sees a movie about WWII backwards
“He came slightly unstuck in time, and saw the late movie backwards, then forwards again, It
was a movie about American bombers in the Second World War and the gallant men who flew
them.”
“American planes, full of hoses and wounded men and corpses took off backwards from and
airfield in England. Over France, a few German fighter planes flew at them backwards, sucked
bullets and shell fragments from some of the planes and crewmen.”
 Why does he see everything backwards?
Class Activity:
Journal Entry:
What is the purpose of showing the late movie in reverse? What point is Vonnegut trying to make?
Assuming that Billy isn’t unstuck in time and that his condition is psychological, why might he wish to
view the movie backwards?
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Class responses:
He sees it backwards to show how the war impacted him
He sees things backwards all the way to Adam and Eve (a time before evil on Earth)—an
innocent time
He can erase the experience of war and the problems he has now
War resulted in more casualties (deaths) with technology (bombs, guns)
Roland Weary
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Sadistic—enjoys inflicting pain on others
Uses Spanish thumb screws to inflict pain
His version of the true war story—he and his buddies “fought like hell” until everyone was killed
except Weary
Reality
True War Story (is still a story & Romanticized)
Weary gets EVERYONE killed
Everyone fights valiantly (bravely) until death
Weary wasn’t friends with snipers
They were “three musketeers” (not true!)
Weary got his entire platoon destroyed (revealed their location)