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It just makes you look gay[1] LOL

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Quote from: True Turquoise on May 19, 2015, 08:43:02 PM

h,i,the,tee

I'm not sure if you just hit random keys, or if there's actually some kind of hidden message in here somewhere.

Have you rəad[1] Slaughterhouse 5[2]?

I haven't read that book, but judging by its description, yeah, I might have to pick it up sometime.

Alright.[1]

Quote from: Jocephalopod on May 19, 2015, 09:26:50 PM

Spoiler

Slaughterhouse-five[1] is widely regarded as one of the most compelling anti war[2] novels in American literature. Presented in an unorthodox style[3], Vonnegut displays the illusion of free will and the futile quest to alter human nature to present the illogical reasoning behind war and humanity itself through the character Billy Pilgrim and the events in his life[4].

When browsing through Slaughterhouse-five[5], one of the first things the reader may notice is Vonnegut’s lax use of the concept of time. Instead of creating a linear path for the story's main character to travel through, the author fabricates jumps[6] through Billie’s[7] life from time[8] of his birth[9] to[10] his demise[11] and everything in between. Although never stated whether these jumps in time are simply illusions suffered from an injury sustained by Billy in the war or actual occurrences[12], the flexibility and seamless nullification of past, present, and future decrease the importance it holds when telling the story compared to most pieces of literature. This concept of time being irrelevant is perfectly described in chapter four[13] when Billy watches time move forward and backwards in a world war two[14] film. He describes the bombs being dropped traveling back up into the planes, the bullets are entering the muzzle of a gun and all the weapons used in war being taken back to the assembly line for disassembly into their base minerals which are then hid underground so no one can use them to hurt each other, while humanity strives to create two perfect people named Adam and Eve[15]. This obscure and paralleling look of events in time aids itself in Vonnegut’s message of fate and hopeless effort to change the course of action in one’s life to reduce conflict by showing time in a different perspective, detailing a war turning into an effort of peace while still displaying the same events. This same concept of a futile stance against fate and human nature can be observed in the behavior of Paul Lazzaro, who promises to kill Billy Pilgrim for causing the death of Roland Weary. The irony[16] of this circumstance is that Billy miraculously survives many near death[17] experiences through[18] the course of his life. The plane crash, the prisoner of war camp[19], and even the bombing of Dresden all seem to overshadow his actual demise of being assassinated by Paul’s hand. Due to the nature of time in the story Billy knows exactly when and where he will meet his end and so he can analyze how pointless his death was, dictated by a man whose actions were dictated by feelings of vengeance and pride both of which cannot justify needless killing under Billy’s perspective of the world[20]. Billy’s death, when scaled to the size of a global conflict truly shows how pointless war is and how it can never be stopped due to human nature itself, as war is in many cases a product of human emotion.
 
Vonnegut’s use of the Tralfamadorian aliens is yet another tool used by Billy to understand the foolish outlook people have on life and the effects of this perspective. Through the teachings of the Tralfamadorians, Billy realizes that there is no possible way to change the course of history, including the tragedies and joy that are sure to come in the future. Events such as war are just as inescapable as they are unnecessary and with Billy’s newfound outlook of his life under a Tralfamadorian lens, he realizes that since violent and peaceful actions can’t be stopped, the tranquil moments should receive the most attention when recalling history. Whether or not the Tralfamadorians are just a figment of Billy’s imagination is up to the reader to decide, as Vonnegut plays between the notion of dreams and reality, sometimes mixing the two together in an effort to better understand Billy’s viewpoint of the world. Vonnegut utilizes this limelight between fantasy and reality to further his argument against free will and human nature by mixing the Tralfamadorian “teachings” with real world examples or hints of their view of the world. One such example of a Tralfamadorian message is perfectly displayed on a serenity prayer plaque in Billy’s optometry office that reads “god grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom always to tell the difference.” this prayer, although seemingly hopeful and optimistic, in reality highlights the notion that neither god nor man can change the course of history and because of this, free will is simply an illusion.

Vonnegut[21] argument against war and the fruitless efforts in stopping it is masterfully masked within fantasy and reality in Slaughterhouse-five as we explore the life and death of Billy Pilgrim over and over again. The author successfully conjures the point that we can only see how foolish our actions as human beings are if viewed through an alien perspective. By doing away with staple factors of life such as time, Vonnegut encourages the reader to question Billy’s sanity, as his unique outlook on the world may be a result of war itself

Corrections

I won't go too hard, considering this is your eighth-grade self.

[1] I'll assume this was actually italicized in your Word document. "Five" should be capitalized, though.
[2] "Anti-war" is hyphenated, as are most terms with "anti-" at the beginning.
[3] I would add "for its time" here.
[4] I would've just ended it at "Billy Pilgrim." I also would've identified him as the protagonist.
[5] "Browsing" is a strange word choice. Makes it sound like you're reading the pages out of sequential order.
[6] "Fabricates jumps"? I know that you're using "jumps" as a noun there, but at first glance, it looks like you're committing a double verb. If you cut out "fabricates", it would sound less awkward.
[7] Misspelled "Billy" there.
[8] "From the time of his birth".
[9] Comma.
[10] Take out "to".
[11] Comma. Now, it says "the author jumps through Billy's life from the time of his birth, his demise, and everything in between."
[12] It would be better if you flipped these two items around, I think.
[13] Personally, I prefer saying "the fourth chapter".
[14] WWII should be spelled like "World War II".
[15] Kind of a long, awkward sentence.
[16] Your instructor told you to "find at least one example of irony", didn't s/he?
[17] "Near-death" is hyphenated.
[18] "Throughout".
[19] "Prisoner-of-war camp".
[20] Another run-on.
[21] "Vonnegut's".

For an essay written in the 8th grade, this wasn't half-bad. There were only four paragraphs, two or three of which were very large, making it a little bit of a slog to read through, but you supported your synopsis with extensive examples from the text, and your analysis of Vonnegut's writing style was reasonably cogent. Structurally, your biggest issue involved your sentences being a little too loquacious, but nonetheless, I can tell that a somewhat honest effort was made here to convey all your points and make the grade.

B+