“And Tralfamadorians don’t see human beings as two-legged creatures, either. They see them as great millepedes— “with babies’ legs at one end and old people’s legs at the other,” says Billy Pilgrim.
As a child of a Fallen Angel of World War II, I am opposed to Nazism and Fascism, I am also a pacifist. Which made for poor conversations with my dad. Who actually had to fight in a real war against those “isms.” Let’s face it, if he did not survive, I would not be here. When then could we have fights over Jesus and war?
“On Tralfamadore, says Billy Pilgrim, there isn’t much interest in Jesus Christ. The Earthling figure who is most engaging to the Tralfamadorian mind, he says, is Charles Darwin—who taught that those who die are meant to die, that corpses are improvements. So it goes.”
Which is why I hold the above book as one of our greatest testimonies against war. It is filled with UFOs and life and death.
“There were hundreds of corpse mines operating by and by. They didn’t smell bad at first, were wax museums. But then the bodies rotted and liquefied, and the stink was like roses and mustard gas. So it goes. The Maori Billy had worked with died of the dry heaves, after having been ordered to go down in that stink and work. He tore himself to pieces, throwing up and throwing up. So it goes. So a new technique was devised. Bodies weren’t brought up any more. They were cremated by soldiers with flamethrowers right where they were. The soldiers stood outside the shelters, simply sent the fire in.”
Kurt Vonnegut survived because of “Schlachthof-fünf.” (Slaughterhouse-Five) and like my dad he had children and told and wrote stories just like I am now!
I have never found answers to life’s mysteries better than I have in this book…. I am still learning from it too.
Such as the war against all Native tribes through out the USA… sucks too…. terrible history …
Quotes from Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse-Five: A Novel (p. 215). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
All wars everywhere… all The Children’s Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death is a science fiction infused anti-war novel by Kurt Vonnegut,
