It is mentioned at varying points in the novel, that the narrator views WWII as a children's crusade.This may be because of his own views or from the ideas of Mary O'Hare shared with him upon their meeting. Though it is not always directly stated, passages hint at Billy's non-soldier nature and appearance. We know that Billy was not meant to be on the front lines or fighting at all, and how little appreciation for life he processed; which combined with his age and the overall view of soldiers of this time, it can be stated that Billy was more child than a man at this point in his life.
"...Billy was only twenty-one years old... He didn't look like a soldier at all. He looked like a filthy flamingo," (p. 33)
Being so young, and unprepared for the things he was about to face, Billy simply staggered off to war. Being the face of the book, Billy carries an almost exaggerated childishness to him, showing how the soldiers fighting in this war were straight from school or pulled from college. I wonder if through out the remainder of the novel, Billy will carry magnified traits in order to show the bigger image from a single character point.
I think that when Vonnegut wrote the novel, he really wanted to drive the point that back then when men were sent to war, they were usually really young. That they were children in a sense, as you've stated up above. Not only that, but the sense of the swiftness of war, and its progressions connects to the fact that the soldiers are forced to grow up and become men. Also that they probably don't have much time to actually stop and remember how old they actually are.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete