Wednesday, August 1, 2012
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.
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I agree with what you're saying but I also thought it was weird the way he compared a simple barbershop chorus to a group of people who survived the war. This quote not only makes the book worth reading but it also demonstrates to the reader the consistency of feeling as if their going to fall out of their seats, wanting to read more.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you're saying but I also thought it was weird the way he compared a simple barbershop chorus to a group of people who survived the war. This quote not only makes the book worth reading but it also demonstrates to the reader the consistency of feeling as if their going to fall out of their seats, wanting to read more.
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