Slaughterhouse 5 Reflection #5
The story cuts back to when Billy is taken to the hospital after the plane crash killing all its passengers except Billy. His wife, Valencia, had heard about the crash and rushed over to the hospital as fast as she could. Even so much as to survive a car crash and leave her exhaust in the road. Sadly, once she had arrived at the hospital, she collapsed in her car to the exposure to Carbon Monoxide without her exhaust pipe. While Billy was in the hospital, he kept saying words that he had mentioned in the whole book, like “ask for Wild Bob” and “go on without me.” The patient next to him, Professor Rumfoord, who had a broken leg, was going on about politics when he mentioned Dresden. Then Billy said “I was there” and left the story at that. Throughout the time in the hospital, Billy went over all the times he had from war, his childhood, and his future. He missed his wife’s funeral and his son returning home from Vietnam. The Billy traveled to the Second World War after the events of Dresden, where he and others were in a small coffin like wagon with lots of supplies that made Billy happy for a short amount of time, he was even armed for the first time. Happiness did not last long as Russian troops caught up to them, for their horses were dying and made Billy upset. The Russian troops sent Billy home to America, where travels to the time his daughter took him home to stay and heal after the plane incident. Billy snuck out that night and made his way to New York City. At one point in the Big Apple, he made his way to a bookstore which had four books by Kilgore Trout on the window. In the back of the bookstore was a adult section which had things like the picture of the pony and women Weary had and a blue movie starring Montana Wildhack. Billy was more interested in the Kilgore books though, for they mentioned many things from kidnapped by aliens, to Jesus time traveling. Even in the book it mentioned the alien zoo just like Billy on Tralfamadore. In his time here, he wanted to get on TV, but he got onto a radio show telling viewers about Tralfamadore and Montana Wildhack. Traveling back to Tralfamadore, Montana was breast-feeding their child, and asking Billy about the time in New York. On a locket Montana was wearing was a quote that Billy lived by, that goes “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom always to tell the difference.” Finally on Chapter 10, Billy thinks about how his life will end, and he will be alive in a different time. He started to think about his time with his old war buddy, O’Hare. He even remembered the time he was digging the bodies, then burning the bodies in Dresden. Finally, Billy and the gang head up the road to find a coffin shaped wagon with two horses and a bird that went “poo-tee-weet.”
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