Chapter 10: The End

And now the book ends. Sad, really. Meanwhile the war has just ended and all Billy can do is walk around. Detained in the ruins of Dresden, and suddenly, oh ya, the war's over now. Billy walks outside and looks around. He sees a wagon and a bunch of trees with birds in them. One says, "Poo-tee-weet" (Pg 215)?

Chapter 10: Motif

Ah the end of the book, and its been a great read too. Vonnegut has fascinated me beyond my wildest expectations. His writing isn't insane, its eccentricly fantastic. His big way of amazing his readers is through his use of a very interesting MOTIF. All throughout the book he has used, "So it goes" (Pg 214), as an interesting little tid bit. He has used it on almost every page in the book. The even better part of it is that is was always used in the most interesting and appropriate spots.

Chapter 9: Controversy Over Dresden

Rumfoord also discusses the matter of the firebombing of Dresden with his young wife. He says how the American never knew the truth about what happened at Dresden during the raid. His wife wants to know why no one ever told the public about it and Rumfoord replies, "For fear that a lot of bleeding hearts... ... might not think it was such a wonderful thing to do" (Pg 191).

Chapter 9: Flat Character

In chapter 9, professor Rumfoord, who is Billy's roommate in the Vermont hospital, shows very limited, on dimensional views on things. He is a very successful professor, wrote dozens of books, and was a brigadier general in Air Force Reserve during WWII. He is described as, "... a hateful old man, conceited and cruel" (Pg 193). He is the greatest example of a FLAT CHARACTER. He also wants the doctors to let Billy die, because he believes that humans deserve doctors, and that with Billy in his current state, he should turned over to a, "tree surgeon" (Pg 190) or something.

Chapter 8: The Moon

As Billy and the other survivors leave the meat locker where they took refuge during the bombing, they are horrified by the sight that greets them. Dresden is gone. The bombers had literally wiped the city off the face of the earth. All that remained was a wasteland that Billy describes, "Dresden was like the moon now, nothing but minerals" (Pg 178). The survivors made their way to an inn that wasn't hurt by the bombs. The innkeeper asked if there was anyone else, but they tell them that they had not seen a single living thing the entire way to the inn.

Chapter 8: Motivation

In this chapter Billy is living through his 18th wedding anniversary with his wife Valencia. They decided to throw a party to celebrate. During the party, a barbershop quartet sings a song and Billy is dramatically affected by it, seeming like he has seen a ghost or a has had a heart attack. It later realizes why this happened. He was there when Dresden was destroyed in the war, and when he and the other survivors came out, they met what remained of Dresden; nothing. There were four German guards with them and when they came out, "They looked like a silent film of a barbershop quartet" (Pg 178) as they thought of all their relatives, all their friends, that were surely dead. This shows Billy's MOTIVATION for why he reacted the way he did to the quartet at the party. 

Chapter 7: I Am Machine

Early in the chapter we are told another radical view of the Tralfamadorians. They believe that every living thing in the universe is in fact a machine. We are told, "It amuses them that so many Earthlings are offended by the idea of being machines" (Pg 154). Billy describes his father-in-law, Lionel Merble, as a machine, possibly because of his weight. He also describes Lionel's daughter as a machine, again due to weight issues.