This year, my favorite book we read in AP Lit was Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut.
I've never been someone that loves Shakespeare, so The Tempest and Othello
weren't going to be at the top of the list, and Beloved was hard to follow, so it wasn't going to reach the top
spot either.
Something
that drew me in to Vonnegut's time traveling war novel was the tone used by the
narrator. Even though it is somewhat supposed to sound like it was written from
a child's point of view, I can't help but sense helplessness in the narrator's
voice.
The
continual use of the phrase "so it goes" adds a hint of vulnerability
to the story. This is what attracted me to the character of Billy Pilgrim.
Behind all of his time traveling fantasies, he is really just an army veteran
that experienced multiple traumatic events. Even though the phrase "so it
goes" is used before this event is written about, I believe that Billy
adopted this neutral attitude when he was a Prisoner Of War in Germany. Since
he was so young when he was sent to Europe and ultimately experienced the Dresden
Bombings, the post-traumatic stress was stuck with him for many decades following
his return to the United States.
In
her essay "The Truth Behind 'So It Goes': Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s Message",
Emily Mirizio writes that "Slaughterhouse
Five captures this horrifying feeling by expressing the 'sheer helplessness,
the total ineffectuality, of anyone caught up in such a massacre'". I believe
that this is an accurate statement in connection with Billy's war experiences and
his fictional encounters with the time traveling Trafalmadorians.
This
thought is what inspired the idea for my Make A Thing project. I chose to create
a scene from Slaughterhouse Five that
included elements from various parts of the story. The bottom half of the canvas
illustrates Dresden, burning in flames in the direct aftermath of the bombings.
In the center is a rocket, which could either be a military destruction rocket,
or a space travel rocket used by the Trafalmadorians. In the sky there are other
Trafalmadorian spaceships against a sky filled with nothing, just emptiness, no
clouds or stars.
This
project challenged my creative brainstorming skills, as well as my nonexistent artistic
abilities (just because I go to Booker T. doesn't mean I'm good at actual art).
I enjoyed my time in AP Lit and I appreciate all that I learned this year.
