He's Done. I'm Only just Beginning

The ending to Slaughterhouse-Five didn’t disappoint. It did surprise me however.  I thought the end would be a concise explanation for all the bizarre questions that the book had posed earlier.  But how could I be so naïve?

Kurt Vonnegut ends his book the same way it began.  This may sound superfluous, but it really isn’t, at least Vonnegut didn’t think so. “Poo-tee-weet” is the aphorism that closes the novel, and in the opening chapter Vonnegut says, “There is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre.” There is a connection between this, and between all the other maxims that characterize his narration of the bombing of Dresden.  When finished reading, the idea that Vonnegut was less than insane, started to become available. On the other hand, only an insane person writes an entire novel to make a point that he made in the first Chapter.  There is no doubt in mind right now that Vonnegut wrote this book so that the reader would realize that war is cruel, vicious, and harrowing. Moreover, he wanted the reader to realize that life isn’t fair, that good people will be killed and nothing that he can say about what he has seen will make it less horrible.  He says at the end that Martin Luther King Jr died, so did Robert Kennedy, “so it goes" he says. This too shall pass, I say.  Kurt Vonnegut has finished the novel on a tone of acceptance, there is nothing that one can do to stop wars, prevent murders, or escape death.  That is why he invents the Trafalmadorians, Killgore Trout, and probably even Billy Pilgrim as well, they represent the spirit that he thinks we all should have. A philosophy of acceptance. 

The bird says to Billy “Poo-tee-weet”. What can Billy respond? Nothing. He is rendered mute by the fact that the bird can’t understand what he says, so it won’t make a difference. There is nothing intelligent to say to the bird, he realizes that the war is over, but nothing he will say will change what has happened or will happen. The lack of time continuity in the novel represents the eternal helplessness of the bystanders in life. I feel a little flabbergasted about the fact that Vonnegut wrote this amazing novel just to prove such a negative mind frame.

To you, readers of my blog, I promise that if I write a book, the ending will read two words: No regrets.