Literary Anaylsis: Slaughter House 5

1.      1.. The plot is about a man named Billy Pilgrim and his life. Billy basically flashes back and forth from past, present and future. He first expiernces this, when he gets captured during WWII, where is whole life flashes before him. After that, the book goes from him meeting aliens called Tralfamadores who tell him that time and death aren't linear.  To his life as a wealthy doctor. Billy ends up realizing how he will die and accepts it, knowing that he'll just time travel back to another point in his life, where he will be alive. 

2. 2. The Theme of Slaughter house five, is that war is destructive not only physically, but also emotionally.

3. 3. The tone of this book is Satirical

• “If I hadn’t spent so much time studying Earthlings,” said the Tralfamadorian, “I wouldn’t have any idea what was meant by ‘free will.’ I’ve visited thirty-one inhabited planets in the universe, and I have studied reports on one hundred more. Only on Earth is there any talk of free will.”  It shows how humans are the only creatures that think "Free Will" exists. But it really doesn't.

• "And nobody held it against him that he dropped jellied gasoline on people. But they found his halitosis unforgivable." Funny how they say nothing about the gasoline, yet they get mad at his disease.

4. Symbols, motifs, tone, and irony

      One symbol in the book is when is Billy is talking about the colors of blue and ivory, he is basically describing how thin the line is between life and death, which is one of the basics of this book.  "blue and ivory claw
      There is also a motif in the book, where after talking about death, Vonnegut writes "so it goes on" this shows how it doesn't matter who dies, life still goes on. You can't beat death.

Tools That Change The Way We Think

"Back in 2004, I asked [Google founders] Page and Brin what they saw as the future of Google search. 'It will be included in people's brains,' said Page. 'When you think about something and don't really know much about it, you will automatically get information.'

'That's true,' said Brin. 'Ultimately I view Google as a way to augment your brain with the knowledge of the world. Right now you go into your computer and type a phrase, but you can imagine that it could be easier in the future, that you can have just devices you talk into, or you can have computers that pay attention to what's going on around them and suggest useful information.'

'Somebody introduces themselves to you, and your watch goes to your web page,' said Page. 'Or if you met this person two years ago, this is what they said to you... Eventually you'll have the implant, where if you think about a fact, it will just tell you the answer."

-From In the Plex by Steven Levy (p.67






My Thoughts:
Even though the internet/media/ technology has widen the barrier for how much information you can acquire. I think it has made actually think less. Because now, when we are faced with a problem, we don't use any problem solving techniques, we just type the question in Google and expect to find the answer in seconds. I think it has slowly made me think less and more impatient when concentrating on a subject. When I was younger and faced with a problem, I had to actually ask around and use many resources to find answers, which me patient and helped me focus. But now, in a matter of minutes I can find anything in world. So yes, technology has made everything for me to find. But it also took away all my thinking skills. 

In search of

a) I learned that they really personalized your search engine. I always thought it was based on your previous searches. Not over 30 other things.
b)It makes me realize, that I will never get the whole picture on anything I look up. It will always just be a one sided information.
c)That the idea of the internet has changed? It went from the place, that had everything in the world and you could find anything. To just being what they think you "want" to know.
d)I don't know. Get a better search engine


I just used different words when searching, I was really blunt and general, which is how i usually am.
then I found this website, http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/life.htm

Notes on Hamlet

It has changed greatly, at first I just thought Hamlet was this pissy young adult with so much angst. As the plot started to thicken though, I realized that he actually had a really good brain on his shoudler. He really planned alot of things through. I feel like we really see  how much Hamlet has grown by the end of act 3. Where to go from here? I have no idea, but i'm excited to find out.

Who was Shakespeare?

Well, i went on google and typed in "Shakespeare's back ground" and got the website http://www.urbana.k12.oh.us/699/oh/williamshakespeare-backgro.htm. It said that he was born  April 23, 1964. His dad was glove maker and was fined for having a dunghill by his house. Shakespeare was married when he was eighteen, it was actually a shotgun wedding to Anne Hathaway. It wasn't until 1592 when his plays started to become hits. He died April 23, 1616.
Shakespeare, when the name is brought up in classrooms, I think most students hide for cover knowing what is coming for them. The  iambic pentameter alone makes you hate life and just reading old english is like nails on scratch board. Thats how I felt freshman year "reading" Romeo and Juliet. As my high school career comes to an end now, I have realized that Shakespeare is still hard as heck to comprehend, but I have become better at using tricks to understand it.I get that you can just read any of his literature like a book, you have to read it over and over again, and look up words to truly get what he is trying to get across.  

To facebook or not to Facebook

Facebook was made for pure enjoyment and the idea of reconnecting and expanding your friendbase. Of course with every social network, they are always risks, considering that you are putting all your information on public. There is really no "real" risk, as long as you are being careful with who you are talking to and watching what is being posted. Facebook has great benefits though, because they help you communicate with people that you thought you would forget after they moved. Or share with friends and family pictures. 
When I read the article though and starting discussing about it, I realized that Facebook is more than just a pretty face. They really do have alot of advertisement on the website that I totally ignored until now. But other than that, facebook is still the same to me. I think that Facebook is a tool, neither negative more positive. It's once you start using it and making it your own, is when it can either be to your advantage, or be the ruiner of your life.