Today in class we discussed in what ways Slaughterhouse Five was a cyclical novel, and in which ways it followed different sorts of timelines. While I would not say that the book itself flows in a fully circular manner, there are many instances in which the circularity of time is alluded to.
Take the Yon Yonson song for example. This is a very explicit case of Kurt Vonnegut mentioning how his life seems to follow a distinct cycle. The simple, flowing repetition of the Yon Yonson song is very similar to that of a common look at cyclical time. Repetition in general references cyclical time, and there are many instances of repetition in this novel. The phrase "so it goes" is repeated very frequently. Nestling like spoons, crying, and being juggled by Magic Fingers are all often mentioned as well. Billy Pilgrim himself alludes to times circularity in the ending of his speech, in which he says "Farewell, hello, farewell, hello." The circularity of this is exaggerated by the fact that Pilgrim repeats this exact phrase at the end of every one of his speeches. Billy's whole life is very circular, in that the repeats parts of his life in Tralfamadore, then in Earth, then in Tralfamadore, etc. The most explicit instances in which Billy travels cyclically through time are when he relives an exact moment, and when he goes from his death to his birth.
I do not think that Vonnegut wants to display time as completely cyclical, but I do think that he is trying to reveal the many ways in which it does follow cyclical patterns. He shows time to be a combination of both cyclical and linear time.
Yeah I would agree with the statement made in the article we read for our panel pres that Vonnegut had the specific intention of reflecting his own life and memories through the Yon Yonson song. It is clearly meant to be cyclical as indicated by the inclusion of the description of how the song goes on to infinity, and since it is in the very beginning of the novel where Vonnegut is bluntly analyzing himself, there is a connection that can be made between him and the song. Throughout the novel we see how his memories of the war are not linear, and this just adds to the idea that he is using the song to show his cyclical way of thought.
ReplyDeleteThe Yon Yonson song dramatizes the sense of not getting anywhere--of an ostensible narrative that promises to recount an encounter or conversation, but keeps circling back on itself. It's not so much that time itself "is" cyclical in this novel--there is a "line," so to speak, but it's just that the Tralfamadorians can see it all at once. It doesn't keep "happening again"; it always "just is." But Billy's experience of time becomes somewhat cyclical, in the he apparently keeps popping back up in these earlier moments and reliving them. The ability to "put something behind" you presupposes a linear conception of time (reflected in the syntax of the phrase); but Billy (and we can see this as a kind of war trauma) simply *can't* put *any* experience "behind him"--he might find himself back there at any moment. And maybe, in some significant respects, this is how memory functions for all of us.
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