Chapters 3-4
This image depicts a Tralfamadorian flying saucer with the purple lights as mentioned in the novel. You can see Billy's blue and ivory foot hanging out of the saucer because they are taking him to their Tralfamadorian planet.
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Vocabulary
1) Ramshackle (adjective) Definition: loosely made or held together; rickety; shaky Quote: "Two were ramshackle old men" (pg 52) Context: This quote refers to the authors descriptions of the German soldiers responsible for "mopping up" the battles of the war. The fact that cleaning up the bloodbaths of the dead bodies of the war was a job, emphasizes the horror of WWII. 2) Swaddle (verb) Definition: to wrap (anything) round with bandages Quote: "Next to the golden boots were a pair of feet which were swaddled in rags"(pg 53) Context: This quotes refers to a description of the feet of a "beautiful" German teenage boy Billy encountered while at war. The description of the boy's feet wrapped in bandages represents the harsh conditions the soldiers lived through. 3) Androgyne (noun) Definition: a being of ambiguous sexual identity; one that combines majoraspects of both the male and the female Quote: "Billy was helped to his feet by the lovely boy, by the heavenly androgyne"(pg 53) Context: This describes a "beautiful" german soldier helping Billy up after Weary beat him up. Billy's awe of the boy represents that soldiers are still humans who are capable of feeling emotions. 4) Vertigo (noun) Definition: a dizzying sensation of tilting within stable surroundings Quote: "He had a high fever and vertigo"(pg 66) Context: These were the symptoms of an american prisoner of the German army that stood next to Billy. This emphasizes the horrible conditions and situations the soldiers were put through in the war. |
Chapter Summaries
Chapter 3
· The five German soldiers watch Weary and Billy fight
· The commander of the soldiers believe that if you look closely in his boots you can see Adam and Eve
· The two men Weary and Billy were with are shot
· The boy wearing the clogs seems to have a face of an angel
· The commander makes Weary and the boy trade shoes so Weary’s feet now bleed in the clogs
· Billy and Weary are taken to a place where prisoners of war are held
· There Billy falls asleep on a captain’s, who is a rabbi, shoulder
· When we awakes he is examining a female patient
· He cannot remember anything
· He closes his eyes and appears back in World War II
· A photographer takes pictures of the prisoners and stages Billy’s capture
· Billy again awakes in 1967 where he drives through a neighborhood that had been burned down
· This ghetto reminds him of the war
· He goes to a Lions Club meeting where the speaker thinks the U.S. should increase bombing in Vietnam
· Billy is introduced to the speaker because he is said to be a veteran and his son in serving in Vietnam at the moment
· Billy has a problem of crying everyday
· Billy goes home to nap and the house is empty
· Billy opens the door to people selling magazines as a con
· He sees the man in charge and then he is back in Luxembourg again
· Billy and weary are both crying, but Weary is crying because of his feet
· The prisoners cross into Germany where they get on a train that takes them into the central country
· They meet a Colonel named Bob
· Colonel Bob is a crazy man
· The men a packed into a train where Billy meets some new people
· Wild Bob died on the train ride
· The war is coming to an end and there is not food or fuel but the German’s still keep the prisoners
· The train is sitting for two days and the Guards go up and down passing food and water into the cars
· The cars start to move and Billy travels to the time he was abducted by the aliens
Chapter 4
· Billy can’t sleep and it is the night of his daughter’s wedding
· Billy knows that he is soon to be taken so he drinks some champagne and watches a movie in reverse of World War II
· He imagines that the movie goes back so far to Adam and Eve
· The flying saucer comes and a ladder lowers for Billy
· The aliens cannot speak, only through their minds
· Billy asks “Why him?”
· They reply, “Because this moment simply is”
· Billy is knocked out and arrives back in Germany
· Since Billy kicks and scream in his sleep, he has to sleep in the car standing up or not at all
· The hobo, Billy met, dies on the ninth day
· And so does Weary
· On the tenth day, the train arrives at a prison
· When they get inside, Billy is the only one who takes a civilian coat
· The others take soldiers coats
· In this prison, Billy meets Edgar Derby
· When they are showering, Billy travels back to being an optometrist
· He is playing golf and then suddenly he is back in the flying saucer
· Billy tells the aliens that they don’t believe in free will
· The aliens reply that only Earthlings do
· The five German soldiers watch Weary and Billy fight
· The commander of the soldiers believe that if you look closely in his boots you can see Adam and Eve
· The two men Weary and Billy were with are shot
· The boy wearing the clogs seems to have a face of an angel
· The commander makes Weary and the boy trade shoes so Weary’s feet now bleed in the clogs
· Billy and Weary are taken to a place where prisoners of war are held
· There Billy falls asleep on a captain’s, who is a rabbi, shoulder
· When we awakes he is examining a female patient
· He cannot remember anything
· He closes his eyes and appears back in World War II
· A photographer takes pictures of the prisoners and stages Billy’s capture
· Billy again awakes in 1967 where he drives through a neighborhood that had been burned down
· This ghetto reminds him of the war
· He goes to a Lions Club meeting where the speaker thinks the U.S. should increase bombing in Vietnam
· Billy is introduced to the speaker because he is said to be a veteran and his son in serving in Vietnam at the moment
· Billy has a problem of crying everyday
· Billy goes home to nap and the house is empty
· Billy opens the door to people selling magazines as a con
· He sees the man in charge and then he is back in Luxembourg again
· Billy and weary are both crying, but Weary is crying because of his feet
· The prisoners cross into Germany where they get on a train that takes them into the central country
· They meet a Colonel named Bob
· Colonel Bob is a crazy man
· The men a packed into a train where Billy meets some new people
· Wild Bob died on the train ride
· The war is coming to an end and there is not food or fuel but the German’s still keep the prisoners
· The train is sitting for two days and the Guards go up and down passing food and water into the cars
· The cars start to move and Billy travels to the time he was abducted by the aliens
Chapter 4
· Billy can’t sleep and it is the night of his daughter’s wedding
· Billy knows that he is soon to be taken so he drinks some champagne and watches a movie in reverse of World War II
· He imagines that the movie goes back so far to Adam and Eve
· The flying saucer comes and a ladder lowers for Billy
· The aliens cannot speak, only through their minds
· Billy asks “Why him?”
· They reply, “Because this moment simply is”
· Billy is knocked out and arrives back in Germany
· Since Billy kicks and scream in his sleep, he has to sleep in the car standing up or not at all
· The hobo, Billy met, dies on the ninth day
· And so does Weary
· On the tenth day, the train arrives at a prison
· When they get inside, Billy is the only one who takes a civilian coat
· The others take soldiers coats
· In this prison, Billy meets Edgar Derby
· When they are showering, Billy travels back to being an optometrist
· He is playing golf and then suddenly he is back in the flying saucer
· Billy tells the aliens that they don’t believe in free will
· The aliens reply that only Earthlings do
Historical Information
The bombing of Vietnam took place over a time period of about three years, starting in 1965. The bombings were ordered after an attack had been made on a U.S. Marine barrack on March 2, 1965. The point of bombing Vietnam was to destroy the infrastructure and ensure that they would be unable to strike us again. By the time the bombings ended, about 7, 662,000 tons of explosives had been dropped in Asian which is about triple the amount dropped during WWII.