The Traumatized Doctor vs The Traumatized War Veteran

Something that has really captivated me from Slaughter House 5 is the ability that Kurt Vonnegut has to portray flash backs. 

About a year ago I remember I started watching the series lost . The plot of the series  is that the passengers of Oceania flight101 crash on a mysterious island .The Characters of the series have all had pretty traumatizing life's. Jack the main character was an alcoholic doctor who's dad was also an alcoholic.Jacks drinking problem eventually destroyed his career as a doctor and wrecked his marriage. John another of the characters of the series has also had a tough life. John didn't have a father while growing up .One day a an older man  called Anthony cooper appears in his life and claims to be his biological father.Then Anthony and John become really close they, hunt together, they fish together and do a number of other activities together .Suddenly Anthony informs John that he is in desperate need of a kidney because his kidney is failing .John volunteers his kidney and ends up donating it to Anthony.Soon as John donates his kidney to Anthony , Anthony stops talking to him.John realizes that Anthony only wanted him for his Kidney .Later on Anthony steals John some money and they begin fighting,as they are fighting Anthony pushes John of building consequently leaving John in a weal chair.John is left without a Kidney, without a father ,and without his legs.

    Through out the series there are many characters like John and Jack .All of the characters have suffered and are traumatized .When the characters crash in the island they begin to have a lot of flash backs like Billy in Slaughter House 5 .Jack suddenly finds himself fighting with his wife or performing a dangerous operation , .The same happens with John who finds him self hunting with his father or waking up from the Kidney transplant. 

      

       As I was watching Lost I remember asking myself how can an author portray a flashback in a book without saying “he remembered”. Kurt Vonnegut seems to have answered my question.He simply strolls away from the Dresden to the Military hospital to Billy s wedding night and so on .Vonnegut portrays flash backs effectively and without pausing the action of the book with a ‘‘Billy remembered”.

      Further more I would like to point out the similarities between Lost and Slaughter House Five. The similarities are obvious both involve traumatized characters that are constantly having uncontrolled flash backs.How ever there is a clear difference , the characters in Lost also hallucinate this makes me wonder will Billy start hallucinating ? Will Roland Weary suddenly pop up in Billy s drive way ? Will Billy begin seeing Trafamoldorians on his porch ? It will  be pretty interesting if it did happen .

From Dresden to The Comuna 13

 As I continued to read slaughter house five I read about Roland Weary.I instantly looked at the people iv e known through out my life and tried to look for anyone that was similar to the cruel gunner ,thats saves Billy s life constantly as Billy is traumatized by war .I couldn't find anyone similar to Roland Weary but I was reminded of Diego my driver in Medellin .I couldn't explain to myself why I hadn't connected Diego to Slaughter House 5 .So I decided to write about Diego's story .

    Last year in Christmas I had to drive 4 hours to a town north of Medellin.Since it was a long ride I talked a lot to my driver Diego . We started talking about soccer but then he told me he was going to tell me something he doesn't  tell to much people .He began telling me the story of his life how he was born in la comuna 13 were life was really tough .He had only studied up till the fifth grade and he had later dropped out because he needed to help support his family .When he turned 18 he decided to join the army .He told me being in the army was a really big thing for him since all his life he had grown up surrounded by violence .He felt he could finally do something to stop the violence .So he said he put a lot of effort in the first month of his military career .Soon Diego became the best at everything shooting , jogging ,doing the obstacle track and lots of other training exercises.Diego was suppose to continue his Military training for about a year but because of his exceptional effort he was offered a position in the  GAULA .The GAULA is an elite unit that specializes in extortion and in kidnaping .Diego accepted the position instantly .

     Diego began to tell me about all his dangerous missions in el GAULA.He told me he had been shot twice and that god forgave him but he couldn't remember how many people he had killed . I asked him what was the worst mission he had ever had instantly he looked out the window and said ‘bro that is something that I am never going to forget’’.

          Their was a long pause and then Diego began telling me the story about Anna a 12 year old girl that had been kidnapped in the comuna 13  .Anna's parents didn't have enough money to pay off her freedom to the bandits that had kidnapped her.Since Diego knew the comuna 13 so well he was assigned the mission of rescuing Anna .Diego told me how it all began.He woke up at 4 am that day and went on to the comuna dressed as a civilian with 5 other undercover agents of el GAULA .Diego was scared all the agents that were sent to that mission had much more experience than he did.The plan was that two of the agents would be in a taxi driving around the suspects house. The two other agents would be blocking the possible escape routes the criminals could take.Last but definitely not least Diego would go into the the house and take the little girl out on his motorcycle . Diego described to me as he got of the motorcycle and he grabbed strongly to his rosario praying for the ‘’virgencita’’ to bring him out of this one alive .He then described to me that as he entered the house their seemed to be nobody their .He went down to the garage of the house to find a locked room . He instantly informed his partners through the radio .He was given the order to go into the room with one of his partners.Diego forced the door open to find nobody their,but as he looked in the closet he found a skinny girl with her arms full of little cuts and mosquito bites.

        Diego's eyes filled with tears as he described to me the little girl body.He continued telling me the story .He instantly carried the girl out of there but to his surprise when he got out of the house their was nobody their.He took his motorcycle and began driving down the curvy streets of the comuna with his partner and the little girl on his motorcycle .They soon found the the cab that was waiting for them  .Diego went and asked them what had happened why they had left. His partners replied that their was orders for them to go and arrest the criminals and for Diego to take the girl out of the dangerous comuna as soon as possible . 

        Diego's eyes filled with tear again and he said to me “and here Pedro bro is were I committed the most terrible mistake I have ever committed’’ .I asked what it was and he said i put the girl in the back of the motorcycle instead of the front. I instantly asked him what was so terrible about that and he said I would figure out later .He told me he took off as fast as he could but as he was going down the streets he noticed that on one of the roof tops there were 3 guys heavily armed .He slowed down and tried to act normal so that he wouldn't stand out .Diego had lived in the comuna so he knew that if who called lots of attention you could get shot easily.Diego also knew that the territory they were in was ruled by the paramilitares or the ‘’paracos’’ as he called them.The chances of those gunned men being paracos were high as the chances of them working together with the kidnapers were also high.Diego described to me how he slowly passed through the building but when he finally thought he was safe he heard a loud boom! boom! .Again there was a long pause and then Diego's eyes filled with tears again and he said “Pedrito i knew what that sound was it was an ak 47, the same sound I had heard all my childhood’’.There was another long pause and Diego said to me “i knew she had been shot she was right behind me and i had put here behind me instead of in front of me” .Diego was talking about Ana .I instantly understood why he had told me putting Ana on the back of his motorcycle had been such a big mistake.Ana Had been shot.  Diego told me  that he didn't even stop he just got out of the comuna as fast as he could.When he finally got of the comuna he met with some of the back up  that had been organized for them.When he got of his bike he took the girl and noticed three shots in here back.Diego knew that she had been shot in the lungs and that the chances of her surviving were none.Diego was in such a rush that he didn't realize that he himself had been shot in the knee.When Diego was getting out of the car he fainted because of all the blood he had lost.

         Ana and Diego were both rushed to the Hospital . Diego made it but Ana died before the could even get here to the hospital.Diego then began telling me how this had changed his life how after this he couldn't sleep and how he had to be taken to the psychiatrist .He then pulled out of his pockets some pills and told me still now a days even though 8 years had passed he has to take one of these pills a day to keep him calm.After this i began talking to Diego about how it definitely wasn't his fault and how good he had been etc.Soon Diego switched topics and we were back to soccer again.We talked about  soccer till we got there.

            I think Diego's story totally connects to the text because even though he lives in a totally different place and time than billy , even though Diego fought a completely different war,Both Diego and billy were traumatized by war .

Martians vs Tralfamadorians

Billy Pilgrim talks about how he is captured by Tralfamadorians (aliens) .I remember I use to watch the movie Mars Attack 1996 by Tim Burton. It was a really unrealistic movie. It was meant to be like a science fiction comedy .I remember the funny looking perverted Martians, going through the city destroying and killing with their laser beans. This makes me wonder about Billy Pilgrims Tralfamadorians  because the martians are in many ways similar to the Tralfamadorians. They both kind of live for the moment and  believe that things simply happen because thats the way it is  .

This also made wonder if Billy s story is true or not .Its kind of controversial because in the event that Billy was actually caught by Aliens in the story. It changes my perspective on the book , because the books genre is  changed it involves a bit of science fiction like Mars Attack . In the event that its not true this will also change my perspective on the book because I don't know how much of what Billy has told us is true.If Billy wasn't really captured by Aliens it gives me motives to doubt all of what he has told us.Which connects to what we were talking about the other day in class.We had to analyze the first page of the book and conclude  if Billy was really telling us his story or if he was inventing some parts .I think Billy is traumatized and as he has so many real flash backs, like being drunk in a party and cheating on his wife . I think he also has fake flash backs like being taken away by the Tralfamadorians .This again makes me doubt about the what is real and what is Billy s imagination .Its an interesting topic and I hope I can look back to it .

GTA and Scareface Memories of My Childhood

First may I say that I have really enjoyed this first chapter of the book ,and that i am exited to keep on reading.Secondly I would like to talk about my childhood.As a kid one of the things that I most remember was that I loved buying bb guns. I never knew why. I just loved buying bb guns and having "bb wars "with my brother .I  loved playing video games , mostly soccer ones but  I do recall  playing  and beating both  Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories and Scarface .In the book Mary O'Hare talks about how war influenced kids. Instantly I thought to myself that I really wouldn't know much about this, since I had lived without war for most of what I can remember. Then I thought to myself and I came to the strange conclusion that when I was a kid I kind of was obsessed with war or violence in general.  I recalled my huge collection of bb guns. I remembered the violent mission that I had to pass in my Play Station 2 with GTA and  Scarface .I remembered myself looking at my GTA stats and being proud of having killed like 300 people and exploding like 80 cars .I began to get kind of scared and impacted , so I asked my father if I was a violent child he joked about it and he said that I have always been. He told me that when I was a kid not only was I kind of violent but all my friends were too , this made me think about Mary O'Hare theory .Even though I wasn't affected by war directly  I was affected by violent video games when  I was a kid  and so were all my friends .

Drink and Drive The Perfect Recipe To A Good Book

So far what  I have read from Slaughter House Five has really gotten my started  on the book, I think I am going to like it .As I began reading I was a bit confused. I mean Vonnegut starts the book in a strange yet simple and attaching way. "All this happened more or less. "This made me  wonder what is this guy talking about? did i skip a page or is this really how he starts his book ? instantly I wanted to keep on reading .As I continued reading I realized the character they were describing seemed like an interesting guy. For starters I think he had really tough life. I mean he was a war veteran that was involved in one  the bloodiest and harshest bombings there has ever been.I can also perceive that the protagonist had a hard life because he seems to have a drinking problem. I mean he talks about how he is kind of lonely and has trouble sleeping at  night so he calls up old girlfriends and drinks .To make it even more interesting this mysterious  war veteran is about to write a book. This makes me think to myself is he about to write the book that I am reading ? is he going to be able end his  book ? and finally will his book be a big success or a big failure  ?

This character reminds me in of a number of movies. I mean a drunk and nostalgic man is a pretty common scene in movies. Specially it reminds me of the movie Click even though the movies protagonist Michael  seems to be much younger than our protagonist he also goes out into the night drinking and thinking about life. Strangely in the movie he finds a remote control that controls life and here is were the movies plot begins so I wonder will the same thing  occur in the book ? 

Readers Blog "The Perfect Life' John Koethe

This was certainly and interesting poem , due to the fact that it made me reflect on my personal life .What I perceive  form this poem is that Koethe is telling a story a story about someone’s life Whether Koethe  is talking about his life or someone else’s life this we do not know .However what seems interesting about this poem is how accurate it seems to be when describing a standards person’s  life , this may reflect on the title "A Perfect Life" because the protagonist of the poem describes his life which appears to be a very standard life . It seems to me as if as though the author is describing in brief and very figurative phrases every part of a man’s life .At the beginning the protagonist tells us how he lives a perfect life which isn’t much but it’s good enough for him, in this part it seems to be like the protagonist is talking about his youth and his adolescence in which he is pretty much happy and satisfied but yet he fails to discover the value of life. The protagonist continues to describe his life by stating Looking forward in anticipation, looking back   In satisfaction at the conclusion of each day this part appears to be explaining how the author continues to grow up and begins to plan his life .So on and so on the poem continues to describe the protagonists life through simple yet in a way deep phrases .My favorite part of the poem yet seems to be the end , in which the author phrases :"In a strange room, leaving merely   A blank space, like a hole left in the wake   Of a perfect life, which closes over”. This last part of the poem is my favorite one because , death in my opinion is the ultimate human being fear ,therefore for someone to describe death seems pretty hard specially when your describing it in  one phrase , however the author doesn’t really dare to tell us what comes after life he simply describes a hole opening and closing and inside the hole and empty white space .Koethe ends the poem in a deep , mysterious and frightful way ,frightful in my opinion because after he describes this person’s life which seems relatively happy he describes death as an empty space what does Koethe want us to perceive from this that there is nothing after death simply an eternity of emptiness this in my opinion is pretty scary and this was the part that made me reflect on my life , what really comes after death ? Then i continued asking myself questions according to the poem, I am myself living a perfect life in what part of the poem am i and many other questions that made me think on the purpose and the meaning of life .As a good catholic that I am I concluded that I would let god lead my path through life. Finally I thought about Koethe and asked myself why would he write a poem like this? Life is everything that has ever existed for the human race and how could someone dare to summarize life in a simple poem? And this dear reader is what I consider interesting and special about this poem the courage of Koethe to summarize life in a simple yet deep poem