Sunday, April 29, 2012
Slaughterhouse-Five: 6
"The boots fit perfectly. Billy Pilgrim was Cinderella, and Cinderella was Billy Pilgrim." (145)
This quote is a metaphor. Billy Pilgrim is not literally Cinderella. The metaphor is used to make a bigger comparison than the fact that Billy is wearing the boots that have been painted to be the glass slippers in the English soldiers' rendition of Cinderalla. I think the comparison that is being made here is that Billy Pilgrim has defied odds just as Cinderella did. Billy Pilgrim is the Cinderella story of World War II. He was not built to be a soldier. He doesn't have the discipline to be a soldier. But somehow, Billy Pilgrim lives through the war even when people much better off have become victims. I think this shows that Billy has some special purpose in life because he never loses even when all odds are stacked against him. What I don't get is why. Billy seems to luck into all his good fortune. He doesn't try particularly hard to stay alive, it just happens. It is like he is just a spectator in the war.
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Billy is very emotionless throughout the war, and things just happen to him. He honestly wants to die, but fate just won't let him. I like how you compared Billy to Cinderella; I never really thought about him in this way.
ReplyDeleteI think part of the reason Billy got through the war against all odds is because he acted like a spectator. He wasn't caught up in killing or winning, like most of the other soldiers, which could be why he eventually made it home. All of the men who prided themselves on being a part of the war were killed, but Billy wasn't a huge fan of the concept - I think he deserved to go home more than the.
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