"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.
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