UGHHHHH!!!
Billy Pilgrim! Why, why, WHY???!
You knew you were going to die so why couldn't you do something about it?! I get that these things are "going to happen" but its your own life, for goodness sake! GAHHH, I'm so annoyed that you couldn't have at least made even the slightest attempt to prevent your own death from happening. GOSH, at least TRY!!! Stop standing there passively, awaiting for you "fate"! If I were in your position, I'd take any opportunity to escape my death.
JEEZ!
***** I just needed to vent out my frustration immediately after reading that chapter.
So. I also find it tragic, almost ironic, that Valencia dies in the attempt of reaching Billy after his freak accident. I pity the woman because she was such a loyal and selfless wife. To be honest, I don't think Billy deserved to marry her because in the story, he seemed like a stoic, uncaring husband. At one point, he was even unfaithful to her. *Sigh...* Being a reader can be so stressful sometimes!
If I were to change something in SH5, it would definitely be to let Valencia live. Maybe I'm a sucker for all the good and innocent characters in books, but I strongly feel that she has the right to live. I think she deserves a better ending than what she got in Vonnegut's story.
I'd also explore the concept of trying to prevent a person's fate from occurring by making Billy escape his preplanned death. It would be interesting to intertwine the effects of free will, in a novel that is primarily dominated by fate. For example, if Billy had allowed the police officers to protect him during his speech in Chicago, he might have come out alive and unharmed. Then he would be able to complete his story about the Tralfamadorians, which I find would be an interesting topic to develop further.
That was the same thing that I posted and I understand your frustration but after think about it I think that Billy's ability to accept things is very admirable. Despite knowing that he will die on a specific day on a specific instant he doesn't avoid it because he knows that his death will be inevitable. For example let's say he dodged the laser and ran away, he's going to die anyways. If I were payed as a hitman to kill someone, its my job to complete the task or else I won't get paid. So I'll find the guy and kill him whatever way I can. Same goes for Billy, he has that courage to face it and accept it and in reality that is something really admirable I find.
ReplyDeleteYes, but even if you could put off death for one day, or even a few hours, wouldn't you take it? I'd prevent my death at all costs. I'd go into hiding, get plastic surgery, move to Antarctica - you get the idea. Talking about courage, do you think that accepting murder is courageous?
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