In true Kurt Vonnegut fashion, honor is the opposite what what he and others experienced during the Second World War. This belief is wonderfully displayed in a scene where Billy Pilgrim, back home after many years, watches a TV special about the war. Billy, suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, sees the movie in reverse. War planes suck the bombs up inside them as the cities below put themselves back together. The bombs are brought back...
In true Kurt Vonnegut fashion, honor is the opposite what what he and others experienced during the Second World War. This belief is wonderfully displayed in a scene where Billy Pilgrim, back home after many years, watches a TV special about the war. Billy, suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, sees the movie in reverse. War planes suck the bombs up inside them as the cities below put themselves back together. The bombs are brought back to their bases, where they are taken apart by women. The bomb pieces are buried in the earth, where they can hurt no one. To Vonnegut, Billy's delusion represents the truly honorable actions of those who dedicate their lives to preventing war.
Another example of how Vonnegut views honor is present in the novel’s first chapter. “I have told my sons,” Vonnegut writes, “that they are not under any circumstances to take part in massacres, and that the news of massacres of enemies is not to fill them with satisfaction or glee.” Having seen so much horror during his time as a soldier and prisoner of war, Vonnegut passes on to his sons the ideal that one’s personal honor is dependent on believing in the sanctity of all human life.
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