HEATHER

[heatherkroesche-blog]

Home and Exilic Consciousness

Writing 3

Upon finishing my third criticism, I could say I am thoroughly confused. While examining these articles I see overlapping of quotes from the novel but, a different conclusion made each time. The difficult thing is trying to decide what I believe and what I want to emphasize. The complexity of Billy Pilgrim's character and the altogether intricacy of Vonnegut’s novel, makes it difficult to have a clear cut statement on Slaughterhouse-5. What I do know is that Vonnegut wanted more than just an analysis of the protagonist, there is so much more hidden within the book about society overall. That being said, a counter argument expressed in my most recent research, written by Ubaraj Katawal,“Home and Exilic Consciousness: Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five and William Spanos’ In the Neighborhood of Zero” discusses an idea brought up by David L. Vanderwerken that says, “because of the passivity of people like Billy that the whole America suffers from ‘symptoms of clinical depression.’” He is referring to Billy’s creation of Tralfamadore, and following the predeterminism ideals of the aliens, Billy is contributing to a more unhealthy society. This argument hardly has anything to back it up, and it also takes an opposite side of what Vonnegut is trying to prove completely. Vonnegut uses Billy’s perspective to show what an unconventional perspective can add to societal discussion. An idea that Katawal touches on by writing, “To put it differently Billy represents the kind of voice that cannot be fully accommodated by conventional novelistic form; he steps across limits, whether he does one laid out by his family members, or by the novelistic form that requires the characters to follow the order of its temporality.” By addresses not only Billy’s personal narrative as evidence, Katawal provides a reason for Vonnegut’s choice to write the book out of chronology.

[heatherkroesche-blog]

Time and Disability

Writing 2

While studying my second criticism I am slowly beginning to develop a possible claim.  Now that I am more familiar with how critics look at Slaughterhouse-5 I am realizing there is one large hookup that in my opinion hinders the analysis of the novel.  There seems to be a common obsession around diagnosing Billy Pilgrim, and for what? Other than quenching curiosity there is no deep value in what a label of a mental illness says about the book. Although, it is still crucial to look at Mr. Pilgrim’s behaviors, not for the fun of a diagnosis, but instead, a doorway into a conversation about what Vonnegut is trying to say about society.  This perspective is exercised in the article “Spastic in Time”: Time and Disability in Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, written by Adam Barrows. He points out another scholarly article written by Susanne Vees-Gulani, which solely focuses on diagnosing Billy Pilgrim with PTSD. Barrows references it as a counter when he says, “She takes us through the symptoms of that disorder in the latest DSM [Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders], explains that those unfortunate enough to suffer from the disease often have a fractured relationship to temporality such as that captured by the novel’s style, and concludes that once one has seen through the patient’s delusions and this understood the entire text’s structure and ethos as symptoms of a crippling disease, one can confidently and correspondingly proclaim Slaughterhouse-5 a realistic documentation of a diagnosable mental disability.” The explanation presented by Vees-Gulani is thorough and most likely accurate, it is missing the purpose of the novel all together. The discussion that should be emphasized, and what Barrows focuses on, is what Vonnegut is trying to say about society. The article culminates to say, “Vonnegut gave his readers an anti-war book that challenged the very definition of ability and disability as well as at the ethics of a system that defines health according to one’s ability to be used and deployed as a unit of profitability.” through the lens of the disabled, the novel shows a different perspective on how society treats a person, like Billy, who is different. Much of the time forced to conform, leading to a resentful view of a world incompatible with their individual nature.

[heatherkroesche-blog]

Anomic Alienation

Writing 1

After reviewing my first criticism, which heavily focuses on proving Anomic Alienation is what Billy Pilgrim suffers from, in addition to the widely accepted diagnosis of PTSD. Anomic Alienation is self- isolation, and the eventual lack of human connection leads to a disconnected person who is even less willing to apply themselves socially. With that being said, there seems to be no arguing that Billy does suffer from this, as he isolates himself from practically everyone, Vonnegut stressed multiple times that he doesn’t have friends, doesn’t really mourn death, and creates an entirely different planet where he doesn’t miss anyone from Earth. So, in short, the proof is there, and saying Billy alienates himself from society is almost inarguable. However, the reasons that led Billy to this point is where the debate is created. Throughout the reading the author of the criticism addresses how this isolation comes from both his personal life but also a failure in society. The author discusses this alienation on a larger scale saying, “Other characters also suffer from anomic isolation, and Vonnegut uses them to shore up his presentation of an america where we have become isolated from one another.” later backing up this claim with discussion of other characters in detail. After reading that and referencing back to the other characters from the novel it is clear Vonnegut is truly trying to show a systemic problem, not solely a personal problem individually represented by Billy Pilgrim. Although, the author later adds to their claim with a discussion of Billy’s personal circumstances that led to his isolation. They write on Billy’s relationship with his parents,  “Billy’s relationship with both his mother and his father provides no familial comfort or support at any point in the book. In fact, their only mentions are negative, leaving him isolated throughout his childhood.” this argument is in no sense wrong, but I believe Vonnegut’s true purpose was to address the anomic alienation that we find throughout society, not just in Pilgrim himself.

[maxmulka314]

Invisible Man Reading The Work #2

As the book progresses and chronicles the college years of the narrator, the inner conflict continues as many older figures are trying to have an influence on him. After finding himself become a driver for one of the white founders of the university, Mr. Norton, he drives him away towards the countryside as Mr. Norton was intrigued by the former slave quarters. The events that followed included a horrifying exposure to a “second class” of African Americans which includes a sharecropper who impregnated his daughter and a shady bar that doubled as a prostitution establishment. The narrator finds himself in trouble for agreeing to show Mr. Norton these places and has a discussion with the president of the college. Dr. Bledsoe is a black man who shows disappointment in the narrator for not lying to Mr. Norton as black people have always had to do in the south to survive. The narrator has a moral dilemma knowing he doesn’t want to lie to a higher authority, yet he must do his “duty” as a black man to avoid trouble so that race isn’t badly reflected. I felt for the narrator as what the president saw as tearing down the race, he was simply bringing issues to light that white people are being blinded from. It is frustrating as a reader to see him being berated with insults knowing he is a smart kid who is unable to make a decision without judgement. He seems like less than a person than he is a device that other people can project their ideas into.

[heatherkroesche-blog]

This is a very intriguing event that occurred in your book. It brings up a serious dilemma that occurs within America, and many places, when it comes to race. When faced with judgement or labeled with a stereotype, much like the narrator has probably experienced,  the thought process behind “not tearing down the race”  makes sense. But, at the same time, like you said, is important to show the true issues behind the curtain of trying to hide them. 

This event could raise a really good conversation about the relationship between white and black, and what is to be done in a situation where we are trying to reverse prejudice that is so ingrained in, not only our society, but also economy and social class. 

[maxmulka314]

Invisible Man Reading The Work #1

Initially getting into the book, I found it pretty interesting how the narrator’s perspective of racism differs from a typical black man as there is a clear sense of ambiguity with his families history of race. This specifically pertains to his grandfathers last words where he regretfully thinks of himself as a traitor and a spy for simply being content with segregated life after the Civil War. It haunts the narrator in his future and overall sets a tone for the ensuing events of the novel. What furthers this internal dilemma is his early success that draws the attention of white people in the community where he delivers a speech that he feels his grandfather would be ashamed of as it was submissive and what the white audience wanted to hear. It made me realize that sometimes it was simply easier for black people to accept “separate but equal” to avoid major suffering. In someways I can see how that would be a good thing considering the narrator does receive a college scholarship from the mayor of the town. This idea can’t work however because the prejudice always seems to overpower any effort to achieve equality passively. The idea of education and lack there of with the black race is introduced and there is the persisting allusion to Booker T. Washington and his idea of reaching equality through the education. It certainly seems to elevate their status within their race, but based on the way the narrator is still looked down on, it is clear that the author has a few points of disagreement with the idea.  

[heatherkroesche-blog]

Ay Mon, 

I’m glad you addressed your observation that your author seems to have a different perspective of race than other African Americans. This idea alone can raise up great conversation. My book, Slaughterhouse-5 also bring sup a very different perspective on WW2, a topic that is followed with a continuous discussion, much like race. It is very valuable to see these different outlooks on popular topics, because it automatically adjusts and widens your perspective on the topic as well. 

I also am interested in what you said about your author and how he uses passiveness to deal with his situation. It says a lot about our society and how our subconscious deals with inequality, and raises questions about our culture. 

[heatherkroesche-blog]

Dresden  (reading 5)

“It wasn’t safe to come out of the shelter until noon the next day. When the Americans and their guards did come out, the sky was black with smoke. The sun was an angry little pinhead. Dresden was like the moon now, nothing but minerals. The stones were hot. Everyone else in the neighborhood was dead.

So it goes.

The guards drew together instinctively, rolled their eyes. They experimented with one expression and then another, said nothing, though their mouth’s were often open. They looked like a silent film of the barbershop quartet.”

 This moment, is what the whole book was leading up to, was the most heart wrenching of the story. It is describing the day after the Dresden attack through the perspective of protagonist, Billy Pilgrim. The readers knew that he survived the war, as he describes his life experiences that occurred after the war, but, either way the survival of the main character doesn’t prepare readers for the feelings of sadness present after reading about the devastation of Dresden. The imagery of the moon being used to describe the now obliterated city, gives a feeling of cold loneliness, and desertion like that of outer space. Another shocking this to consider is that the city, in addition to POW and Nazi soldiers, was almost entirely just normal civilians, which makes the tragedy harder to except. The following paragraph describing the guards is very impactful, as they witness how a piece of their country was destroyed so quickly, and how a piece of their culture was ruined, and a piece of their population now dead.

The relevance of the barbershop quartet is related to a different part of the book, where the Billy gets struck by the image of the guards at his 18th wedding anniversary, which is a clear moment of PTSD. the moment is so relevant because it represents how PTSD can sneak into life even in the happiest, or most seemingly unrelated moments of time.   

SLAUGHTERHOUSE-5

[heatherkroesche-blog]

Boxcar  (reading 4)

“Human beings in there took turns standing or lying down. The legs of those who stood were like fence posts driven into a warm, squirming, farting, sighing earth. The queer earth was a mosaic of sleepers who nestled like spoons.”

This quote really stuck with me, like many war stories the feeling of dehumanization can be followed mostly through POW’s, and this is no exception. The quote itself is almost poetic and the analogy of the standing people being fence posts and the people laying down being the earth that is moving beneath is honestly sort of a pleasant thought. It seems like everyone, for a moment, is at peace, where the people standing realize they have to take their turn to do so, and that they have considerate companions who will trade places with them soon. This emphasizes the idea that when hard times are brought on, people truly can work together to support one another, although it is upsetting this moment is crushed by the unpleasant reality of war.

The box car also levels the playing field for everyone, and in moments of dehumanization, the discrimination or divisions that seperated people from one another suddenly disappears, and everyone becomes equally vulnerable and powerless. It no longer matters how much money you have, your level of education, or your appearance, it all becomes about survival. All complaints of discomfort go away because it is understood by everyone there is no help in complaining.  The image of a boxcar traveling days on end, overcrowded, hungry, and thirsty, goes to show how much people can actually withstand without giving in or giving up.  

SLAUGHTERHOUSE-5 

[heatherkroesche-blog]

Tralfamadore (reading 3)

“The most important thing I learned on Tralfamadore was that when a person dies he only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past, so it is very silly for people to cry at his funeral. All moments, past, present, and future, always have existed, always will exist. The Tralfamadorians can look at all the different moments just the way we can look at a stretch of the Rocky Mountains, for instance. They can see how permanent all the moments are, and they can look at any moment that interests them.”

The planet of Tralfamadore is not only a strange part of Billy Pilgrim’s life, the aliens that inhabit the planet bring many interesting ideas to the consciousness and can be drawn to relate to the story.  Most obviously in this quote the topic of death can be paralleled to the almost constant mention of death throughout the story, whether it be Billy’s friends and family back home, but also the war. The phrase, “so it goes” is mentioned so many times throughout the story, always after someone, or something dies.  A part of me has to believe that Vonnegut’s purpose of the repetition is to emphasize how often death plagues the human experience, inside and outside of war. I also am theorizing that “so it goes” has to do with the personal coping of Mr. Pilgrim, and maybe a discrete way to mention some level of PTSD. Either way, the Tralfamadorians claims about death in the relation to time brings an interesting perspective on how humans usually deal with death.

This quote sticks with the reader, Billy even says that it was his most important lesson he learned on the alien planet but, Vonnegut uses the Tralfamadorians as an outlet to discuss strange philosophies, much like the one mentioned above. Which proves to improve the overall quality of the book emphasising the topics of time travel and memory.

SLAUGHTERHOUSE-5 

[heatherkroesche-blog]

Massacre (reading 2)

“It is so short and jumbled and jangled, Sam, because there’s nothing intelligent to say about a massacre.  Everybody is supposed to be dead, to never say anything or want anything ever again. Everything is supposed to be very quiet after massacre, and it always is, except for the birds.

And what do they say? All there is to say about a massacre, things like “Poo-tee-weet?”

This quote is from the narrator as he explains how writing a book about a massacre is challenging, and explains how there isn’t much to say.  This writing stands out because it is so blunt, people don’t usually think about massacre’s on a daily basis, and speaking from my personal thoughts, I never considered a war attack a complete obliteration of an entire town, except for a nuclear bomb.  But, in this situation the narrator is talking about the attack on Dresden, Germany, an attack that seems to blend in with all warfare, but, this emphasizes that it was more than a couple of bombs, or soldier v soldier contact. But, is instead straight murder of not just a single demographic, but of an entire population.

In the overall context of the book, this quote is from the relative beginning, sort of a set up for the Dresden attack, which gets mentioned later on consistently. The discussion of it from the narrator’s point of view gives an eerie quality to the book and addresses the seriousness of the story’s purpose, although the book is told through a very strange and almost comedic lens.

SLAUGHTERHOUSE-5

[heatherkroesche-blog]

The Children’s Crusade (reading 1)

So far, the book has been slightly challenging to keep up with, since it chronology is scattered.  Vonnegut switches time period, characters, situations, and perspectives quite often which make the story more exciting, I feel like there are constant cliffhangers from one event to the next. The story opens with the narrator, a World War Two veteran visiting his friend Bernard V. O’hare who was in the war him. The motivation for their meeting was the narrator’s book that he was writing. When he arrives the O’hare’s house, Bernard’s wife, Mary is hesitant to allow their narrator in and openly talk about such a sore subject like the war.  After a little bit of prying the narrator realizes why Mary is so cynical about the war. She proclaims, “You were just babies then!” talking about the boys drafted to fight. With this simple line it opens a conversation of the ethics of drafting such young people into the war. She also touches on the glorification of war stories, how in the movies soldiers are played by real men, not 17 year old boys who are hardly out of adolescents. In this moment the narrator tells Mary that the book will be called, “The Children's Crusade” which is a powerful moment, encapsulating the trauma of war, and pointing out how young the soldiers were, and how little training they had heading to the front.

SLAUGHTERHOUSE-5

[heatherkroesche-blog]

Choosing Slaughterhouse-Five

Like most of my peers my book search began by asking my own personal Siri, who I call Mom.  I explained the book requirements and from the woman who raised me, she has an idea about my taste in literature. One of the first books she suggested was Slaughterhouse-Five. A title I’ve heard of countless times, but genuinely knew nothing about. With a brief explanation I understood thats in its simplest terms it’s an antiwar novel based around WW2. So, I thought it’s worth a shot an even if I don’t like it, at least I’ll be able to contribute to literary discussions knowing the story of a classic like Slaughterhouse-Five. 

The book seemed to fit perfectly into the category of nonfiction and had plenty of scholarship. But, outside of the requirements, I like the topic and what the novel brings into the discussion of war. 

So, I went out and go the book and began to read it, I’ll leave the details of the story to the process. But, so far the book is enjoyable, the casual tone, wrapped in the strangeness of it is really intriguing. 

[heatherkroesche-blog]

Sculptor

A patient pinch of the clay,

the curated cut of marble,

expansive thought in front of the mind

onto the eyes, eyes of all those

willing to look.

For the alchemist

a true necessity is to insinuate magic.

without an audience, or a flaw in performance

a fatal blow to the ego,

detrimental for a person with such dependence

such a lack of independence

it is, quite frankly, true torture,

Alone like Poe

unadulteratedly tragic

like Romeo.

A cycle ensues: over and over, the carver aims to please

waiting for a validation; ache and torment waiting for affirmation;

and yes, possibly personal proclamation

could suffice; but not enough to satisfy

a sculptor and his alibi.

[shireenkaakarli-blog]

A Rebel Without a Cause

Although the scenes in A Rebel Without a Cause were dramatized, they still represented what it is like to fall into peer pressure. As well as how teens are always ignored when it comes to their problems, even when they reach out to their parents. But again, I would not take A Rebel Without a Cause seriously. Sometimes we hear about people like Plato on the news and how they are put into jail for shooting up public places. And almost always those people have personal issues starting with their parents. I know people like Judy as well. They are in a popular friend group and denote the people around them but do a complete 180 when they are alone.

The intended audience for this movie was for teens and their parents. The writers intended to show teens the consequences falling into peer pressure can have on someone, especially at their age. Furthermore, the writers deliberately portrayed the parents as problematic to show what that can do to their kids. The purpose was to open our eyes. It was to show how we can lose ourselves if we let people affect us heavily. The speakers were the teens (at the time 20 year old’s) demonstrating what happens when parents ignore their kids and when kids pressure their peers.

(p.s. this is a picture of Heather and I. She is smiling because she got to eat and I was frowning because I was fasting. She also ate some Mediterranean food in the middle of the movie.)

[heatherkroesche-blog]

I do love Mediterranean food. :D

[heatherkroesche-blog]

Well if She’s Ladybird, I guess I’ll be Girlchick

I watched Ladybird multiple times and what keeps me coming back to it is its raw relatability.  The plot at first glance isn’t groundbreaking or anything.  But, each time I recognize an aspect of the film I didn’t before.  I think that is what makes the movie so genius, the small experiences that Ladybird (Christine) goes through cumulate into who she becomes and how she enters her adult life. As a girl her age, I feel generally the same feelings, growing pains, of just growing up.  I can’t say her life is exactly mine but I can continue to reference the film to my problems and feel comfort that I’m not the only one.

The topics addressed in the movie can relate to any teenager in some way or another. And the great thing about the movie is that it doesn’t seem so far from real life.  The social aspects feature “the popular kids” and “the theatre kids” just like many other teen movies, but Ladybird specifically just shows how one girl deals with finding herself and her own social group while not painting the high school as a battleground for different types of people like many other movies, like Means Girls, does. Her parents, normal... her best friend, normal... a lot of the movie, normal.  It’s refreshing to see characters that are so true to real life.  

Her struggles are definitely real too, she fights with her best friend, argues with her mom, and has a few breakups.  But, the best part about it is (spoiler alert) she makes it to the other side perfectly alright.  The true message of the film is that issues in high school seem to be a huge earth shattering deal, but in the end you don’t need to let it tear you down.  Instead, you can take your experiences and let them mold you into a better person compared to dragging them on for the rest of your life and feeling self pity.  Another powerful idea the movie suggests is the issues you experience in adolescents, in hindsight, may seem irrelevant, but at the same time it’s okay, and normal to feel crappy sometimes. 

The audience is clear, it is clearly for teenagers, just to realize they’ll be alright in the end.  

[heatherkroesche-blog]

Rebel with a “slight” cause

While watching “Rebel Without a Cause” the most enjoyable part was staring at James Deans’ face, but other than that I was cringing at the strange parent-child dynamics and gasping at the aimless shooting, stabbing, and the occasional driving off cliffs.  

A one-word synopsis? Dramatic. And not gonna lie the drama had me questioning the characters credibility and whether or not they were being reasonable or just being brats that had nothing better to do than fight with each other.  But, at the same time I can’t deny that all adolescents have family issues or other personal problems.  Even though all are individual of one another, problems bring the teen demographic together.  

Teenagers are interesting because of their unique situation, close to adulthood and individuality but also strongly tied with their parent identities.  In the movie Jim spends all his time rejecting his family habits and desperately tries to run away from his father’s passive behaviors.  A moment that resonated with me was when he says something about wanting to fit in somewhere.  A statement separate from his daddy issues but nonetheless relevant.  The discussion of acceptance is essential when analyzing teens because we all strive for it.  This theme is also followed through by other characters, specifically Plato.  It could’ve been expected that kid who got walked all over and bullied the whole time would be the person to pull a gun in the end.  So the shooting thing with Plato was another dramatic genius of the movie, but it isn’t too far off from real life and the overaggerated scene emphasizes how ignored problems can lead to a boiling point.   

Then there’s Judy, and I quite honestly don’t know what her problem was but she got over that Buzz kid incredibly fast.  But, at second glance maybe her dependence on men was because of her father’s disengagement with her life as she got older.  

All three of the central characters are bluntly just looking for attention, the most common reason for rebellion.  Why do they want attention? all different reasons, but they all still want it in the end, making it easy to join forces and rebel together. 

The movie is geared toward teens and their parents, it gives a Hollywood look into how influential family dynamics can be.  A teeenager can relate to the issues the characters face, while parents get a chance to understand and sympathize.  The key purpose of the film is supply the audience with elements of excitement while also tackling a demographic previously ignored about being ignored. 

Although Jim is the main character the true speaker are the kids who suffer with serious consequence, the unforgettable characters.  Like Buzz who’s adrenaline obsession ended his life, and Plato who’ s unstable mental state killed him in the end. The two together and how their peers deal with their passings show more about the social constructs of adolescents than anything else in the movie. 

[heatherkroesche-blog]

So nothing’s Original

I’ve decided that I’m stumped, I can’t think of an “original” example, I guess because there is none. The only conclusion I came upon, again and again, was that “if nothing is original, then wouldn’t that just make everything original?” in this case I guess all I’m doing is interchanging the words like remix or different for original.  Either way, whether original is everything or nothing, it leaves the word with no true meaning.  

So maybe “original” has no universal examples but micro examples of an original acts exist undeniably.  Things that are “never before seen” even for a small group of people, still is original for them. A friend recently sent me an e-vite for her grad party, which I have never gotten before, and I thought, “Oh, how original” but let’s get real she must have gotten her inspiration from someone else.  Examples -by this definition- of original, are endless.  

And while we’re at it, personality can be paralleled to originality.  Many accept that all personality traits are based-off our experiences. Therefore, leaving us with no original thoughts and no room for natural personality traits.  The culmination of our experiences and life of events make us who we are.  

But, considering nothing is original we never cease to be amazed by each other and by new opinions, new art, or new fashions, even if they aren’t really new they are new to some people. In the end, our differences in experiences, keep us entertained with each other and I guess that’s all we can ask for. 

[heatherkroesche-blog]

Secondary #6: “Cogs in a Machine”

FAST FOOD NATION: This image says a lot even though it is fairly simplistic. I found it on Pinterest and the cation says that is shows the oppression that meat packers experience and they are hardly treated any better than slaughtered animals.  

When arguing against the meat industry I really try not to go the extreme, I don’t want to seem crazy and radical, because less people tend to listen to me.  At the same time, I find it valuable to recognize the truth, and this image, from the era of Sinclair’s “The Jungle” is still somewhat relevant.  The cartoon is based off of ideas surrounded workers treatment as cogs in a machine.  That idea can be easily related to many jobs in America now, large industries have great control over almost all aspects of business including fast food service and meatpacking.  

It is up to personal opinion whether America’s technological advancements have helped or hurt workers by making them expendable.  But, Fast Food Nation addresses that McDonalds was the first to mechanize the food industry and aided in the mechanization of other industries as well. 

Fast food is widely considered as unhealthy and everyone knows that, but Fast Food Nation brings up many other factors about the fast food industry besides the food.  Fast food influences our entire lives including our diet, economy, and lobbies in the government often.