The Final Post of the Summer. So it goes.

For my final post for the summer, I thought I'd try to make it a little fancier and add another Youtube video. This song, "Keep Holding On" but Avril Lavinge, really was ringing in my head as I finished the book. Billy Pilgrim went through so much in his lifetime, and all he was trying to do was to "keep holding on" to make it through all of his struggles. Another part in the song, where she sings, "There's nothing you can say, nothing you can do. There's no other way when it comes to the truth," reminded me of the idea that he doesn't believe in free will. In the end, for him, there was nothing he could do to out-run his fate, a depressing one at that. If only he could have forced himself to make some decisions to change all of the bad events that happened in his life. Oh well, so it goes.

Motif- Chapter 10

So, for the 10th and final chapter, I decided to try and tackle the whole "So it goes.." repetition that Vonnegut used throughout the novel. At first, I thought of it as sort of a coping device that Billy Pilgrim used to accept death. Now, however, I see it as something he used to try and help explain death. Whether or not this is a way to question his insanity is a death in itself, but I genuinely believe that this is what he thought about death. Billy Pilgrim thought that death was just one moment in time, and that there were many, many more when that person was alive and happy. The "So it goes.." it merely something he said to remind himself of that. 

Serenity Prayer

This prayer always reminds me of Mrs. Lauck and how often she says it in class, and I really like it. It seemed to be a way for Billy Pilgrim to find some comfort in that he had something to keep him going inside of his head, whether it was this or time travel. Prayer always helps in a time of need, and this one, a recurring piece in the book, seemed to do that for Billy.

Flashback- Chapter 9

Chapter nine was full of flashbacks from earlier in the book. Some included Wild Bob saying, " 'If you're ever in Cody, Wyoming..." (188), and when Billy flashed back to telling the Three Musketeers to go on without him. I think this had a lot to do with the fact that he was still recovering from the airplane crash and trying to find a way to cope with it, so he is mentally traveling through time again. This was also a chapter in which I started to figure out that the mental time travel was merely a coping device. He was not actually traveling through time as he did not have that ability, but his memories were so close to him that he could relive everything.

I Go Back

In chapter eight, Billy Pilgrim's struggle with the four men singing reminded me of a particular song that I heard growing up. "I Go Back" by Kenny Chesney is a song where he talks about how specific songs and music can make someone nostalgic or subconsciously remind them of something. In the beginning of this music video, he has voices in his head screaming at him simply because he heard a song that raddled his memory. This seems to be exactly what Billy was going through as he listened to the quartet. Also, a very important part of the song is when Chesney says that "We all have a song that somehow stamps our lives, takes us to another place in time." In addition to that, he obviously repeats the phrase, "Everytime I hear that song, I go back." This relates very well to Billy in that the singing of the quartet in somehow sparking his memory and he is struggling with it.

Internal Conflict- Chapter 8

The part of this chapter that stood out the most was the internal conflict that Billy faced whenever the quartet began singing. As Vonnegut explained, "The barbershop quartet sang again. Billy was emotionally racked again," (175). The effect that these four men had on him was indescribable. Suddenly, he began going through time in his minds as an illusion of his son in the bathroom showed up. For some reason, this group of four men singing had an effect on him and he didn't understand it. Valencia even commented that he looked like he had seen a ghost. Nevertheless, it was obvious that this was shaking him, and he could not figure it out.

Time Travel

With all of the time travel in chapter seven, I was reminded of an old series I used to read growing up about a kid who could travel back in time with baseball cards. He would also try to go back and change history, but was usually unsuccessful. When thinking about how these two relate, and this chapter in particular, it posed the question of whether or not history could actually be changed if time travel was real. While it sounds really "science-fictiony," it really got me thinking. Why couldn't Billy stop himself from getting on that plane with his father in-law? He knew it was going to crash. If free will really does not exist, then I understand. However, he had the option to not by the ticket or to go back and fake being sick. These things can change. It was a very important question involving the book that could never really be answered.