Opinions and Thoughts: Slaughterhouse-Five (Week 6, Post 2)

Jennifer Hong
Dec. 6. 2011


In my opinion, this book, Slaughterhouse-Five, is a lot more boring and less easy to read than The Great Gatsby.  I like the Great Gatsby more because it makes more sense, and has an actual story. Slaughterhouse-Five has a story but I don't see the point of the story. I admit that it gets better the more I read but it confuses me a lot. I mean, I'd have to admit, it is a very interesting thing to read, but I don't know what the book is trying to tell me. It is a mixture of history and sci-fi, past and present (pg. 20-21, 24), which doesn't make sense to me. All the stuff about the aliens and such (pg. 57) I also feel as thought this book is very illiterate, which I'm sure is on purpose, but I just don't like it. Billy is a very interesting character and I don't know if this is good or not. Sometimes I feel as though he is just crazy, but I guess I could understand because of all the events in his life. I know I'd go koo-koo if I were him. I'm already going crazy just reading about his koo-koo life. I have a lot of questions about this book and about Billy. I wonder what was going through Kurt's mind when he was writing this story. What is the point of writing this book? What is Kurt Vonnegut trying to tell me? Is there some symbolic meaning behind this book? What is going to happen to Billy? How will he die in the future since he's always time traveling?

Opinions and Thoughts: The Great Gatsby (Week 6, Post 1)

Jennifer Hong
Dec. 5, 2011


What I'd like to start off with is that I think Gatsby is a very sweet guy for loving Daisy so much and wanting to be with her again like they were before (pg. 118-119). But I do agree with Nick that Gatsby cannot bring back the past. It is what it is (pg. 119). I don't think Gatsby should think that his money will provide Daisy with everything because money doesn't buy happiness. Also, it's horrible to come in between someone's marriage, considering that Tom seems to love Daisy very much, too. I think Gatsby is a little too into his money. I feel like he is too absorbed in it and thinks the money can get him everything. Gatsby clearly depends on his money way too much more than needed. But again, it is good that he loves Daisy very much and is determined to win her back like before. What chapter 6 also showed about Gatsby was his past. It showed how Gatsby came to be himself now and how he is so successful (pg. 105-108). I think my prediction about Gatsby maybe being a bad person is totally wrong. I feel like Nick and Gatsby's friend relationship has gone a long ways so far and they are pretty close to each other which is good. Another thing I'd like to point out are the annoying reporters. Reporters are super snoopy and want to know everything even though they already know Gatsby's history (pg. 104-105). If I were Gatsby, I'd be a bit pissed off. I really actually respect Gatsby for being so rich and motivated to be rich, although he is, again, too absorbed in money. I look up to him for being so successful and not a bad person. I find that a lot of successful people go blind because of money, power, and fame, but clearly Gatsby does not drink, as he's committed to never being an alcoholic (pg. 107-108), doesn't kill, and doesn't do drugs. He's just like a normal human being. I think this is overall a good book, but it is a bit boring. Nothing is actually happening that is big and there's no thrill of action sort of thing. It's just a book about the lives of people. But still, I enjoy this book.

Themes and Predictions: Slaughterhouse-Five (Week 5, Post 2)

Jennifer Hong

Dec. 1, 2011

This book and the book, The Great Gatsby, has a significant difference in themes. The Great Gatsby, as I have mentioned earlier, has a theme of romance, affairs, mysteries, and history. Slaughterhouse-Five has themes of time-travel (clearly), aliens and extraterrestrial beings, sci-fi, history, war, and partially maturing and difference in life after years. Time travel happens so very often in this book. One minute Billy is getting married to Valencia and they make love, the next he's in his zoo cage in Tralfamadore meeting his mating partner Montana Wildhack (pg. 62-63). Which leads us to another theme which is aliens. Tralfamadorians seem to know much about human beings and even claim their to be 5 sexes instead of just two (pg. 57). What shows war is when Billy was in war. What si sad is that he was in a mental ward for veterans after war (pg. 50).  What shows maturity is all this time travel Billy does. All the time periods he moves into shows him at a different stage in his life. It goes from good, to great, to bad, to horrible, to great, to weird, to aliens, to confusing, to being in war, to being in a mental ward. All of this shows the differences and how much Billy had matured and changed throughout the years and the major events of his life. I imagine his life to be, as I've said before, very exhausting. But I'd like to add that also probably exciting in a way. Another thing I'd like to point out is that this section of reading really does show why the book was maybe banned; because of sexuality. It talks about how Billy and his spouse made love after their wedding, slightly in detail (pg. 57-58). I was also thinking that maybe Billy is just a crazy man making all of this up, or maybe Kurt Vonnegut is. This book is extremely confusing and does not seem realistic. I'm not sure if the book will have a happy ending or sad ending. What do you think, Jordan?