BRIEF, URGENT MESSAGE
SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE
Lindsey Shrout
Olivia Blute
Sydney Loew
LA COLOMBA, JEAN-MICHAEL BASQUIAT
(183 X 336 CM), ACRYLIC, OIL, PENCIL AND INK ON CANVAS
PRIVATE COLLECTION
NOTES: PAINTING
La colomba translates to “The Dove” in Italian. While the protagonist of the piece is a
two-headed figure, it actually represents the “dove”, however, it is sickly. This symbol of
peace no longer serves as an image of peace, but instead, as an image of suffering. The
piece is a dichotomy of the inside and outside of the head. The panel on the left contains
images of pain, torture, and suffering. The protagonist attempts to understand his pain.
The right arm holds a white flag of peace, as the protagonist attempts to alleviate his
suffering and arrive at the solution of peace, but his left arm is amputated. While the
protagonist aims to reach peace, he is tortured by the symbol of defeat, a negative
image of an olive branch (the top right green scribble).
NOTES: CONNECTED TO SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE
In this piece, Basquiat evokes the same theme of suffering as Vonnegut. Particularly similar, is
the realization of suffering. Although when looking at this piece, one does not immediately
understand the mood because of the jumbled style, the symbols, when viewed with greater
detail, evoke the suffering concept.
Similarly, Billy understands his pain when Vonnegut writes, “The barbershop quartet sand
again. Billy was emotionally racked again. The experience was definitely associated with
those four men and not what they sang” (176).
“Billy thought hard about the effect the quartet had on him, and then found an association with
an experience he had long ago. He did not travel in time to the experience. He remembered
it…” (177).
This form of abreaction that Billy undergoes plays into his realization of suffering. In order to
alleviate ones suffering, one must face the problem. Like this painting that evokes the mood of
suffering from a jumbled standpoint of thrashing brush strokes and corrupt peace imagery,
Billy faces his problems, and feels pain. Also, he takes off the mask that he wears, which
hides his pain, and lets himself suffer. Much like Billy, the left panel physically confronts pain,
and the right panel continues to jumble the source of the suffering.
VIRGIN WITH THE DEAD CHRIST, ARTIST UNKNOWN
2’ 10 ½” HIGH , WOOD
RHEINISCHES LANDESMUSEUM, BONN, GERMANY
NOTES: SCULPTURE
“Virgin with the Dead Christ” is also known as Pietà, which is a work of art of a crucified
Christ with the grieving Mary. All pietàs, suggest pain and suffering because Mary loses
her son to the crucifixion. In this particular pietà, the Crown of Thorns is prominently on
Christ as his body is emaciated. This adds to the overall suffering, and forces the viewer
to feel the pain in a form of repulsion. This religious theme is humanized because of
Christ’s emaciated body, further proving the theme of pain.
NOTES: CONNECTED TO
SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE
Mary O’Hare says, enraged about the glorification of war, “You’ll pretend you were men instead of
babies, and you’ll be played in the movies by Frank Sinatra and John Wayne or some of those other
glamorous, war-loving, dirty old men. And war will look just wonderful, so we’ll have a lot more of
them. And they’ll be fought by babies like the babies upstairs” (14). Mary O’Hare has a similar
reaction as the Virgin Mary that grieves in the “Pietà” because she, too is protective of her children.
Both scenes depict the suffering of children, and although this particular quote does not show the
actual suffering that the young soldiers felt, it does assert the pain through a mother’s viewpoint.
Although it is not the glory of war that killed the Christ child, the same image of human suffering is
present in both, especially the theme of the mother suffering due to loss of child.
Vonnegut extracted suffering from the boxcar scene, when he wrote, “Billy didn’t want to drop from
the car to the ground. He sincerely believed that he would shatter like glass. So the guards helped
him down, cooing still. They set him down, cooing still. They set him down facing the train” (81).
Even the Germans realize how young, innocent and fragile the American prisoners of war were.
They are children, like Christ, who undergo suffering, which corrupts their innocence.
The soldiers volunteer for war, sacrificing themselves, and in both this picture and in
Slaughterhouse-Five, they are acting older, but still are innocent and as a result feel pain.
EXPULSION FROM THE GARDEN OF EDEN, MASACCIO
(208 X 88 CM), FRESCO
BRANCACCI CHAPEL
NOTES: PAINTING
In this piece, the traditional theme of the expulsion of Adam and Eve is depicted.
Masaccio imbued the painting with intense emotion shown by the figures’ facial
expressions. Adam hides face in shame and Eve hides her body in shame as she lets
out a cry of anguish. The bleak background adds to the overall message of pain because
it represents desolation outside of the Garden of Eden. Masaccio depicted this moment
of severe suffering that the viewer would be able to immediately understand. The heavy
brushstrokes and subtle use of light add to the bleakness and drama, which bring drastic
emotion into the painting.
NOTES: CONNECTED TO
SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE
Vonnegut describes the suffering that resulted from the Dresden bombing when
he wrote, “Nobody talked much as the expedition crossed the moon. There was
nothing appropriate to say. One thing was clear: Absolutely everybody in the city
was supposed to be dead, regardless of what they were, and that anybody that
moved in it represented a flaw in the design. There were to be no moon men at
all” (180).
Like Adam and Eve, Billy is expelled from a safe place. While Adam and Eve’s
safe place was Eden, Billy’s was Slaughterhouse-Five. While a slaughterhouse
greatly differs from the idyllic Eden, the same image of suffering outside of the
haven can be seen. Adam and Eve enter a complete state of desolation as does
Billy when he enters the ruins of Dresden. Dresden is described as a moon at
first, but the crater-like terrain is not magical, it is dangerous. Although Billy
does not show his suffering as prominently as Eve, the description of Dresden
serves as the image of total destruction and pain that inflicted the innocent
civilians.
AT THE END OF THE DAY- LES MIS
•
http://www.metrolyrics.com/at-the-end-of-the-day-lyrics-les-miserables.html
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beJzmP8BfYM (start at 0:37 and end at 1:15)
At the end of the day you're another day older
And that's all you can say for the life of the poor
It's a struggle, it's a war
And there's nothing that anyone's giving
One more day standing about, what is it for?
One day less to be living.
At the end of the day you're another day colder
And the shirt on your back doesn't keep out the chill
And the righteous hurry past
They don't hear the little ones crying
And the winter is coming on fast, ready to kill
One day nearer to dying!
CONNECTION TO SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE
“At the End of the Day” from Les Mis conveys the idea that death is inevitable, which is shown
in Slaughterhouse 5. The poor in Les Mis know that their deaths are quickly approaching, but
there isn’t anything they can do to change it. They continue on to the next day knowing it
could be their last, similar to Billy who knows when he is going to die and “predicts his own
death within an hour” (142). The passive way the women talk about approaching death proves
this song to be the anthem for “So it goes”. While set in two different time periods and in two
different nations both Billy and the poor French workers have become numb to death.
Whether being in France at the time of Les Mis or in WWII, the struggles one faces changes
the outlook on the unavoidable death everyone must endure. One may be able to question life
and “what is it for” but when it comes to death, things can’t be changed. So it goes.
FOR YOU- KEITH URBAN
•
http://www.elyrics.net/read/k/keith-urban-lyrics/for-you-lyrics.html
•
All I saw was smoke and fire
I didn't feel a thing
But suddenly I was rising higher
CONNECTION TO SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE
Looking at the above lines specfically, one can envision the scene when Billy first becomes
unstuck in time. As Billy sat against a tree in the middle of the forest “his attention began to
swing grandly through the full arc of his life” (43). Both Billy and the voice of the song lose
touch with reality and seem to float away in the middle of a brutal war-time situation. Both
should struggle to stay in the here and now during an important time. Both the song lyrics and
Billy’s experience are written passively which show how the men are looking back onto their
actions in the parallelled situations. In the song, the man “didn’t feel a thing” while in the book
Billy jumped to a memory where he was “numb as his father carried him” (44) and threw him
into the pool. These two references show how in situations of high stress a person’s mind and
body will disconnect themselves from the real world. If Vonnegut had to pick a song to play
during this scene “For You” would paint the best image for the reader.
THE A TEAM-ED SHEERAN
•
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/edsheeran/theateam.html
•
Stuck in her daydream
Been this way since eighteen
But lately her face seems
Slowly sinking, wasting
Crumbling like pastries
And they scream
CONNECTION TO SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE
Trapped. With nowhere to go. No where to hide. Both Billy and the girl spoken about in “The A
Team” are in this situation. When Billy was in Tralfamadore and living in the zoo “escape was
out of the question” (112). The girl is trapped due to the drugs she has taken and she is
unable to escape the viscious cyle she has been pulled into. With choppy lines, her suffering
and struggle can be felt. This emotion while trapped is a divide between the two. The girl
suffers when she is trapped while Billy is content with being stuck in the zoo. Zooming out
from Billy’s time in the zoo it can be seen that he isn’t really trapped. Truthfully, he is “unstuck”
and is free to move in time. In “The A Team”, the girl hasn’t changed or moved “since
eighteen” and is frozen in time, continuously trapped. The song portrays time as frozen and
like progress can’t be made. Give this song to Vonnegut and he would quickly point out this
different reaction, in response to suffering.
“WHERE IS THE LOVE?” BY THE BLACK EYED
PEAS
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FotCW5OIFZc
• “People killin', people dyin'
Children hurt and you hear them cryin'
Can you practice what you preach
And would you turn the other cheek”
CONNECTION TO SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE
This song embodies almost everything that Vonnegut talks about in Slaughterhouse Five,
especially the idea of suffering. The chorus of the song says, “People killin', people dyin',
children hurt and you hear them cryin’, can you practice what you preach and would you turn
the other cheek,” which discusses not only human suffering, but also how people so easily
ignore it and allow it to go on. It’s blunt, like the novel, in how it serves you with the fact that
people are dying and hurting and nobody helps them.
Vonnegut talks about “turning the other cheek” with his repetition of the phrase “so it goes.”
With this phrase, he proves how people move on and life goes on while all of these tragedies,
like the children’s crusade and the bombing of Dresden happen. He nonchalantly describes
the deaths in Dresden by saying, “It was the next night that about one hundred and thirty
thousand people in Dresden would die. So it goes” (165). Through all of this, Billy Pilgrim just
spoons himself the sweet syrup and hundreds of soldiers lay in the protective shield of the
slaughterhouse. Nobody stops it or lets it affect them; they only care about themselves.
“REMINDER” BY MUMFORD AND SONS
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6lbvoI0gM8
“So watch the world tear us apart
A stoic mind and bleeding heart
You never see my bleeding heart”
CONNECTION TO SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE
•
“Reminder” by Mumford and Sons describes the feeling, or lack thereof, as the world
around you is getting destroyed, as you do the destroying. By the use of “stoic” they show
how there’s no actual emotion to, no feeling, as violence and suffering ensue. Nobody
pays attention to the pain, or cares about those who were destroyed, which is shown in
“you never see my bleeding heart.” People always focus on the soldiers, the ones who are
fighting for their country, but not the victims who get mercilessly killed for no reason. Like
in Slaughterhouse Five, all of the soldiers kill so easily, but they all just assume it’s the
price that comes with war.
•
When Billy talks with Bertram Rumfoord during his stay in the hospital post war, he
eventually tells him that he was at Dresden during the bombing. The conversation goes,
“’It had to be done,’ Rumfoord told Billy, speaking of the destruction of Dresden. ‘I know,”
said Billy. ‘That’s war.’ ‘I know.’ ‘It must have been hell on the ground.’ ‘It was.’ ‘Pity the
men who had to do it’” (198).
•
First of all, Rumfoord’s only explanation for the thousands of civilian deaths in Dresden is
that “it’s war.” He doesn’t even sympathize with the ones who died, only the ones who had
to kill. Just like the song, he just accepts that those who die had to die and those who did
could only watch.
“DUST IN THE WIND” BY KANSAS
• “Dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind”
CONNECTION TO SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE
•
The chorus of this song, which is “dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind,” talks
about the idea that everybody can disappear so easily, just like dust fades seamlessly into
the air without anyone noticing. This goes back to the theme of how death is inevitable in
life and eventually, everybody will fade away no matter what. Vonnegut introduced this
theme within the first chapter of the book when he says, “Do you know what I say to
people when I hear they’re writing anti-war books...I say, ‘Why don’t you write an antiglacier book instead?’ He meant, of course, that there would always be wars…” (5). Here,
Vonnegut says how war and death is inevitable, and writing a novel about how wrong
everything about them are won’t talk away the fact that they will always happen. People
will always die, there is no way around it, just like there will always be glaciers, which
connects to the theme of the inevitability of death discussed in the song, too.