Moises Rivera
October 13, 2008
Dialectical Journal: Slaughterhouse Five Chapters 1-3
"And even if the wars didn't keep coming
like glaciers, there would still be plain old
death." Chapter 1, pg. 4
"At that time, they were teaching that there
was absolutely no difference between
anybody. They may be teaching that still."
Chapter 1, pg. 8
"The nicest veterans in Schenectady, I
thought, the kindest and funniest ones, the
ones who hated war the most, were the
ones who'd really fought."
Chapter 1, pg. 11
"He is in a constant state of stage fright, he
says, because he never knows what part of
his life he is going to have to act in next."
Chapter 2, pg. 23
"All this responsibility at such an early age
made her a bitchy flibbertigibbet."
Chapter 2, pg. 29
"They crawled into a forest like the big,
unlucky mammals they were." Chapter 2,
pg. 29
"God grant me the serenity to accept the
things I cannot change, courage to change
the things I can, and wisdom to always tell
the difference." Chapter 3, pg. 60
"The legs of those who stood were like
fence posts driven into a warm, squirming,
farting, sighing earth. The queer earth was
a mosaic of sleepers who nestled like
spoons." Chapter 3, pg. 70
"It is, in the imagination of combat's fans,
the divinely listless loveplay that follows
the orgasm of victory. It is called 'mopping
up.'" Chapter 3, pg. 52
"So they were trying to re-invent
themselves and their universe....Science
fiction was a big help." Chapter 5, pg. 101
“The war parts, anyway, are pretty much
true.” P.1
I like the simile of the wars and the
glaciers. Glaciers are difficult to go avoid
because of their immense sizes.
This is an interesting statement.
Individuals were being taught how
everyone is the same and that there is no
such thing as unique.
I like this quote because many people hate
war, but the ones who hate war the most,
are the ones who actually fought in a war
because they have experienced the pain
and tragedy of war.
This character seems very uncertain about
his life. I like this metaphor, claiming that
a life can actually be a show for an
audience.
I find this statement extremely humorous.
What kind of word is that?
“Flibbertigibbet?”
Another nice simile! I like the use of the
word “crawl” to emphasize the description
of mammal.
This is possibly my favorite quote. It
reminds me of one of Confucius’
aphorisms about knowledge and ignorance.
Do not pretend to know something.
Nice simile. The legs of these individuals
must have been wedged deeply into the
earth. The second sentence is a metaphor,
which I do not understand very much.
The reference to combat’s fans is truly
interesting. There is a sort of pleasure to
victory and the author describes this
pleasure as an orgasm.
I cannot tell if this is a sarcastic comment.
I believe that one needs imagination in
order to re-invent the universe, thus
science fiction could really help out.
This is how the writer is directly stating to us
that he will be telling us something fictional.
1
Moises Rivera
October 13, 2008
Dialectical Journal: Slaughterhouse Five Chapters 1-3
“There must be tons of human bone meal in
the ground.” P.1
“…who took us to the slaughter house where
he had been locked up at night as a prisoner of
war.” P.1
“His mother was incinerated in the Dresden
fire-storm.” P.2
“And not many words come I now, either,
when I have become an old fart with his
memories…” p.2
“What he meant of course, was that there
would always be war, that they were as easy to
stop as glaciers.” P.3
“I have a disease late at night sometimes
involving alcohol and the telephone.” P.4
“And then the blue line met the red line and
then the yellow line, and then the yellow line
stopped because the character represented by
the yellow was dead.” P.5
“And we had babies.” P.7
“And sometimes I’ll let the dog out, or I let
him in, and we talk some.” P. 7
This is really disgusting because it paints a
gory image of what is left over from war
I think this is where the writer starts to
foreshadow and connect the name of the book
with where the setting might take place.
I think this is satirical humor that the author
uses. He describes good things happening to
the character and then his mother’s death.
The writer obviously has no self-respect if he
can refer to himself as an old fart. He does not
think high of his war memories either.
The writer recounts a time when he shared his
book idea with a famous movie maker who
philosophically told him his idea was dumb
and worthless because there would be no
impact.
Once again you can see how the writer makes
fun of himself. He calls his addiction to
alcohol a disease.
The writer is very humorous in willingly
opening his way of writing a story and figuring
out the climax. The narrator is obviously the
writer because he is directly addressing his
readers. He uses diff. colors to draw lines that
represent the lives of soldiers he knew in
Dresden.
This is something that is unnecessary and
worded in a dumb sort of way. Why couldn’t
he have just said we had children? It is like the
idea of sex is humorous to the writer.
The writer reveals a lot of his character in the
first chapter. We might think he is a little crazy
at the fact that he talks to his dog.