chapter 10

"On Tralfamadore, says Billy Pilgrim, there isn't much interest in Jesus Christ. The Earthling figure who is most engaging to the Tralfamadorians mind, he says, is Charles Darwin- who taught that those who die are meant to die, that corpses are improvements. So it goes" (Vonnegut 210). 

This quote compares the Tralfamadorian way of thinking to Darwinism. This photo is significant to the quote because it is of a book called "The Darwin Awards", named after Charles Darwin, and describes many idiotic ways in which people got themselves killed and therefore earned a "Darwin Award"- a symbolic award given to those who "voluntarily remove themselves from the gene pool".

I believe this quote may reveal the fact that Vonnegut believes in Darwinism and "survival of the fittest ", and rejects religion in order to favor science. Some followers of religion reject Charles Darwin's ideas of evolution in favor of Creationism. The Tralfamadorians are not interested in religion but agree with Darwin's theories about life, including ones that some religious people are disturbed by, such as that "corpses are improvements" of certain individuals and those who are meant to die, die. This information could be perceived as fitting with an anti-religion theme that I believe is prevalent in the novel. 

chapter 9

"Later on, as a middle-aged optometrist, he would weep quietly and privately sometimes, but never make loud boohooing noises...Billy cried very little, though he often saw things worth crying about, and in that respect, at least, he resembled the Christ of the carol:

The cattle are lowing,

The Baby awakes.

But the little Lord Jesus

No crying he makes" (Vonnegut 197).

This quote is comparing Billy Pilgrim to Jesus Christ as he has seen many things worth crying about but rarely does. This picture is a rosary with Jesus on it and in this quote Billy is described as a Christ figure.

In the novel, Vonnegut alludes to Billy Pilgrim being a Christ figure. In this quote he mentions that Billy has seen many horrible things in his life, including much death and destruction, similarly to Jesus.  The only time he weeps during the war is not for himself, but for the injured horses. In the Bible, Jesus only weeps for others. Billy is described as weakly built and ordinary, like Jesus, and believes that he is the messenger of the Tralfamadorians and attempts to spread their teachings much like Jesus was a prophet for God. 

chapter 8

"Gee, that song went, but I'd give he world to see that old gang of mine. And so on. A little later it said, So long forever, old fellows and gals, so long forever old sweethearts and pals- God bless 'em- And so on. Unexpectedly, Billy Pilgrim found himself upset by the song and the occasion. He had never had an old gang, old sweethearts and pals, but he missed one anyway..." (Vonnegut 172).

This quote is illustrating Billy's feelings of loneliness after he realizes that he doesn't have a cherished group of friends or even multiple friends to speak of. This picture relates to a quote because it is of a person who is isolated and alone with nobody by their side.

I believe that with this quote Vonnegut is describing the extreme loneliness Billy feels, even as he is surrounded by people at his and Valencia's eighteenth wedding anniversary. All of the party guests are optometrists and merely work colleagues. Billy does not have many friends, and this is also shown in Dresden as he is an outcast among the prisoners in a situation where many soldiers create friendships. As he rushes upstairs after hearing the quartet and turns on his Magic Fingers in his bed, it is clear that Billy has been deprived of human contact and longs for close relationships.

chapter 7

"There were different raps on the factory window, Derby was out there, having seen all. He wanted some syrup too. So Billy made a lollipop for him. He opened the window. He stuck the lollipop into poor old Edgar Derby's mouth. A moment passes, and then Derby burst into tears. Billy closed the window and hid the sticky spoon. Someone was coming" (Vonnegut 161).

This quote is referring to the fact that ever since the soldiers have been working in the syrup factory, they have been using spoons to eat the syrup. This picture is relevant because it is of multiple spoons of different sizes, like the ones that are hidden around the factory.

I think that in this chapter Vonnegut uses the syrup to symbolize the pleasures that the prisoners long for after being away form home. The soldiers are constantly surrounded by the temptation to eat the sweet syrup that may remind some of memories of candy or molasses and of a better time in their life. The soldiers' hiding of spoons and making of syrup lollipops resembles a child-like behavior, and so does Edgar Derby's desire for a taste after he sees Billy eating some. I think that Derby's tears of joy after tasting the syrup illustrate the longing of the prisoners to return to their pleasant lives.

chapter 6

"The Americans were taken to the fifth building inside the gate. It was a one-story cement-block cube with sliding doors in front and back. It had been built as a shelter for pigs about to be butchered. Now it was going to serve as a home away from home for one hundred American prisoners of war" (Vonnegut 152).

In this quote Vonnegut describes the old slaughterhouse in Dresden where pigs used to be butchered.This picture relates to this quote because it shows a large butchering knife.

I believe that the fact that the prisoners are staying in the old slaughterhouse is very significant. The slaughterhouse can be interpreted as a metaphor for World War II, and the pigs symbolize the soldiers. The soldiers are rounded up and shipped off to war and then killed in mass quantities, much like pigs being butchered. I believe that by comparing the war to a slaughterhouse, Vonnegut strengthens the anti-war themes present in the novel. 

chapter 5

"The flatcar sometimes crept, sometimes went extremely fast, often stopped - went uphill, downhill, around curves, along straightaways. Whatever poor Billy saw through the pipe, he had no choice but to say to himself, "That's life."" (Vonnegut 115).

This image relates to this quote because it is a picture of a young boy looking through a pipe, and Vonnegut, through the Tralfamadorians, describes the way humans view time by using a metaphor of a pipe. He explains that life is like looking through a length of pipe while being bolted down and immobilized on a moving flatcar.

I believe that Vonnegut's metaphor accurately illustrates a humans perception of life as time goes by. He describes the flatcar as going both fast and slow as time seems to pass at different speeds in a person's life depending on his or her perception of time. He also describes the high and low points of life as the figurative flatcar travels up and downhill.  The curves in the flatcar's path symbolize turning points and events that change the course of a person's life. The fact that the flatcar does not stop illustrates how life continues to go forward and does not stop or go backwards. This metaphor employed by the Tralfamadorians to understand human time perception also provides the reader with a simplistic view of life that may be used to ponder the route that their own flatcar has taken.

chapter 4

 

"And the liquid began to flow. Gobs of it built up in the doorway, plopped to the ground. Billy was next-to-last human being to reach the door. The hobo was last. The hobo could not flow, could not plop. He wasn't liquid anymore. He was stone. So it goes" (Vonnegut 81).

This quote describes the prisoners of war getting out of the train car after arriving at the prison camp. In this picture the running water symbolizes the living passengers who are flowing liquid while the rocks symbolize the dead that have turned to "stone". 

In this quote I believe Vonnegut is illustrating how death was viewed by the prisoners and the guards. Vonnegut dehumanizes the soldiers when he compares them to flowing liquid, and the hobo who he describes as a stone. As soldiers and military guards, most of the men have had personal experiences with death and have come desensitized in this situation. I think Vonnegut is drawing attention to this casual response to death as he compares the humans to inanimate objects.

chapter 3

 

"Billy traveled in time, opened his eyes, found himself staring into the glass eyes of a jade green mechanical owl. The owl was hanging upside down from a rod of stainless steel. The owl was Billy's optometer in his office in Illum. An optometer is an instrument for measuring refractive errors in eyes - in order that corrective lenses may be prescribed" (Vonnegut 56).

Billy describes his optometer as a "jade green mechanical owl" with glass eyes. This picture relates to this quote because it is a jade green owl which is made of glass.

I believe Vonnegut choose to describe the optometer as an owl to allude to the fact that Billy not only corrects people's eyesight, but feels that he is prescribing "corrective lenses for Earthling souls" as he attempt to spread the Tralfamadorians' "truth about time". The owl is a universal symbol for wisdom and intelligence, and I think Vonnegut is using this to illustrate the fact that Billy considers himself and the Tralfamadorians possessors of valuable wisdom. 

Chapter 2

 

Photo Source 

"He was doing nothing less now, he thought, then prescribing corrective lenses for the Earthling souls. So many of those souls were lost and wretched, Billy believed, because they could not see as well as his little green friends on Tralfamadore" (Vonnegut 29).

This photo shows a dark and clouded background that when viewed through lenses is colorful and beautiful. This photo is significant to the quote because it illustrates how Billy felt as though he was helping people on Earth to see as clearly as the Tralfamadorians do.

I believe that with this quote, Vonnegut is criticizing human nature and the way humans view life. When he says that the Tralfamadorians see better than Earthlings do, he is alluding to the fact that humans look at life in the wrong way. He describes human souls as "lost and wretched", and I think that Vonnegut is disappointed in human nature in some way, such as in the way that people view their own lives with negativity.

Chapter 1

 

Photo Source 

"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 the 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" (Vonnegut 14).

This photo is significant to this quote because it depicts a young boy dressed as a soldier which symbolizes the immaturity and innocence of the young soldiers who fought in World War II, many of which could barely be considered adults. Mary refers to them as "babies", emphasizing her opinion that they are too young to be fighting in a war and are more like young boys than men.

This quote from Mary reveals a different, less popularized view of the war from an American perspective. During World War II support on the home front was strong and soldiers were celebrated for sacrificing themselves. I believe that here Vonnegut is expressing that young men are being sent off to be killed, men that are barely legal, and it is wrong and should not be celebrated. Here he challenges the moral aspects of the war with a viewpoint that could be interpreted as anti-war.