In
high school, I remember many of my friends complaining about their reading
assignments. One book that many of them
had to read was Slaughterhouse-Five. Although I was never assigned this text, the
title of the book intrigued me. So, when
I reviewed this course’s syllabus, I was delighted to find this book on the
agenda.
I
began my reading a few days ago, and I was surprised by how quick of a read it
is. However, this also bothers me
because I am worried that I am not understanding everything. Now, I am not going to lie, after I read the
first three chapters, I looked to SparkNotes for the chapter summaries. I could not help it; I was confused. The jumping back and forth in time really
messed with my head. As soon as I am began
to understand what was going on, Vonnegut switched to another time period – my
poor little brain could not handle it!
Nevertheless,
this course is about humor, and I did my best to look for examples of things
that I thought were funny. I will add in
my own caveat, though. I think that
humor is situational. Because of this,
it was sometimes difficult for me to recognize the humor in Vonnegut’s style of
writing, as well as in the incidents he wrote about.
The
first incident of humor that I truly laughed at was when Vonnegut, or the
narrator, described himself as an, “old fart,” (p. 2). I specifically remember writing “haha” next
to this line of text. What made this
funny was that Vonnegut could make fun of himself. Furthermore, this was relatable because many
people (myself occasionally included) dismiss something that someone elderly
says because he or she is an “old fart”; I liked how Vonnegut pointed this out.
Another
phrase that I highlighted occured in the text when Billy is described his
daughter, Barbara. He called her a,
“bitchy flibbertigibbet,” (p. 29). I
think that one reason that this description was funny was because of schadenfreude;
it is funny because it was not us (or at least he was not describing us as
this). Moreover, Billy describing his
own daughter as this made it even more comical; it may have even added more
truth to this statement. Also,
“flibbertigibbet” is a funny word (I will admit; I did have to look up its
definition).
A
reoccurring example of humor in this novel was the character of Roland
Weary. Again, the concept of schadenfreude
applied here; we were glad that the things happening to him were not happening
to us. All of Robert’s gadgets were
comical, as he was not a good soldier.
It was as if he thought his wartime accessories would make him a better fighter. Moreover, I think it was funny (and somewhat
pathetic) that he called himself and the scouts “The Three Musketeers,” (p.
42). I also found this ironic because
earlier in the book, one of the reporters was eating a Three Musketeers candy
bar when she was talking to Vonnegut about a veteran’s corpse.
One
final thing that I found humorous was Billy’s imagination in recounting his
stories of Tralfamadore and the aliens.
His creativity was impressive, but I also found it a bit pitiful. I felt bad for him, especially considering
all that he has been through (being a POW, his wife’s death, etc.).
In
thinking about the first three chapters, I am still forming my opinion in regards
to how I feel towards this book. While I
like reading it more than I like reading Morreall, I am still trying to warm up
to it. In comparison to stories we read
from The Greatest American Writers of
All-Time, I find this book to be less humorous. As of right now, I am keeping an open mind,
but this book is not as funny as I hoped it would be.
