"Happily Ever After," is it True?

Great life? What is a great life? Is it having a great amount of money, two children and a wife, but still being in a mid-life crisis? I think Billy Pilgrim and Cinderella are different, in some ways. She could be a metaphor for what happens to Billy, but not the perfect one.

This is what Gabriela Aldana said in her blog entry "Billy Pilgrim Was Cinderella, and Cinderella Was Billy Pilgrim." She said that Billy goes to war, which could be the time that Cinderella had to work with her stepsisters and stepmother. Then, she gets married to the prince and lives a happy life, for ever, until she dies. In Billy Pilgrim's life this would be the part where he gets married to Valencia, she's rich, he becomes wealthy and "lives happily ever after." Does he? Does even Cinderella live happy ever after?

We assume that Cinderella lives a fully satisfactory life, since it is a fairy tale. But, are you sure that every single day of her life she was completely happy just because she is away from her step-family and she is a princess? You never are. Maybe, she never is happy (all the time, there are moments you can be happy now).

I think it is the same with Billy, maybe in that way they would be similar. (Still, I think they are not similar). Billy went to war, Vonnegut has explained how war is, it's horrible. Then he married a horrible woman (inside and out) and then he "lived happily ever after," with a bitter wife, and an intolerant daughter. Oh and I forgot to mention that he somehow hates Valencia, he just didn't tell her. He didn't tell her anything. Not even his Tralfamadorian thing. Such a happy life. Honestly, I wish I had a family to which I couldn't tell them anything because I would be called freak! It would be amazing, having a completely socially awkward family and be stuck there...'TILL YOU DIE.

The "Writing Tick"

"Poor old Edgar Derby," "Billy Pilgrim." Doesn't that seem familiar? Well, it should. Kurt Vonnegut says it all the time, throughout all the book. But why? Why does he do that? It's like a writing tick: you can't stop saying the same things over and over again. Whenever he mentions Edgar Derby, he must say "poor old Edgar Derby." Whenever he talks about Billy he can't say "Billy" or "Pilgrim" or "old Pilgs," he must say "Billy Pilgrim."

I can't blame him too much for that, I think I have that writing tick too. But the thing that I can't stand is that maybe it's his weird way of telling us something and I can't figure out what that something is.

But, lets not forget that old Vonnegut was at wart too, with old Pilgs, and we take that for granted. (Well at least I do). Just because he is writing the book I think he was not at war (or maybe it was because he writes in third person). Suddenly a sentence like "That was I." (pg. 148) is what reminds me that Kurt Vonnegut, was there. I've talked about how Billy is traumatized because of war in my other entries, but I've never talked about Vonnegut. What if he also has a trauma and cant stop repeating THE SAME THINGS OVER AND OVER AGAIN?

But enough of the writing tick. Lets talk about Paul Lazzaro. Who I think is kinda funny. The only thing that I don't get about him is that stuff he says about killing people...is he serious? Well, I don't know if he is (people in desperation can say many things, I mean he did break his arm) but I find it humorous: he goes pointing at every one (with his good arm) and say's like "I will kill you because...you were in my way when I was pointing to another person to kill them!" There's always one of those at war. Fo' sho.

War's Left and Right

My dad always tells me to look on both sides when I cross the street. Even if it's a one way street. It may sound silly, but it's true. People are silly, stupid, ignorant and sometimes drunk when they drive a car. I feel like that is what happened to the Americans when they were told about Dresden.

They were told it was beautiful, undefended and "off war," but they are at war. And they are in Germany. Why didn't they look to the other side of the street?

They were getting bombed in thirty days and Billy knew. He knew everything: when he was going to die, when Derby was doing to die, he knew many things. Somehow he kept everything to himself, he never said a thing about what he saw, I guess that would make him look foolish. Maybe, just maybe, he may not be totally insane, people that don't like to keep an image are the crazy ones, right? I suppose. Everyone cares what other people think, even if it's just a little, even Billy Pilgrim.

I wouldn't know how it is to be a prisoner, and specially at war. I mean, sure, it is very tough and "impersonal," I would say. But still, I wouldn't know how it is to be a prisoner. Kurt Vonnegut has shown me a little of how if feels like. He has shown me a little of how it is to be a captured soldier and he has shown me a little of how it is to not see trees, comfortable beds and kids for three years. He has made me feel sick about war.