Slaughterhouse 5, Kurt Vonnegut

Billy Pilgrim was a soldier in WWII, fighting on the German lines. At one point, he finds himself "unstuck" from time, and experiences his life from a non-linear perspective, and will find himself walking through doors and literally coming out of one from 10 years into the past or future. He is picked up by aliens, self-identified as tralfalmadorians, which view time as a single entity, and see in the 4th dimension. Through different events in his life and the process in which he travels, the story of Billy Pilgrim unfolds, and teaches a good lesson on how to deal with life.

Vonnegut's writing style is one that I personally enjoy because of his classic dry humour and sly jokes. His sense of humour is one I personally find funny, which further shapes this novel into a very unique work. He will often use phrases multiple times as motifs, such as "nestled like spoons" and "So it goes" in this particular novel, "So it goes" being a Tralfamadorian phrase used whenever they see something unfortunate, as they can just choose to focus on the good parts of life, since they see it as whole. He has a very convincing style, as even the way he narrates seems like how someone would talk, and the conversations between the characters and the things they say all seem very natural.

"So they were trying to re-invent themselves and their universe. Science fiction was a

big help." I personally like this one because it shows classic Vonnegut humour, but also shows

a lot of truth in what it says, which is that to try and change something, it takes a lot of

optimism, or that people who try change the world are blindly optimistic, which makes it

humorous. "The eight ridiculous ascertained that these hundred ridiculous creatures really

were American fighting men fresh from the front. They smiled, and then they laughed. Their

terror evaporated. There was nothing to be afraid of. Here were more crippled human beings,

more fools like themselves. Here was light opera." I like this passage because it comments on

how in the second world war, both soldiers and citizens suffered equally in Europe, and how

these citizens have come to realize that the men that they so feared were just off as badly as

they were. "Trout, incidentally, had written a book about a money tree. It had twenty-dollar

bills for leaves. Its flowers were government bonds. Its fruit was diamonds. It attracted

human beings who killed each other around the roots and made very good fertilizer. So it goes."

I find this very funny because it is quite witty and black, and puts a funny twist on how most

people think of a money tree as being a wonderful, idealistic producer, but Vonnegut turns it

into a comment on how people die just for the sake of money.

The Long Walk, Richard Bachman/Stephen King

Every year, 100 16 year-old boys are selected from a large pool of applicants to participate in an event known as "The Long Walk", one of whom is Ray Garraty, the protagonist. Each contestant must maintain a pace of at least 4 miles/hour, and if he drops below the speed for 30 seconds, he will receive a warning; up to three can be given. If he goes one hour without a warning, one warning will be taken off, if there are any outstanding. If the contestant receives three collective warnings, he will be "ticketed", upon which he leaves the race. When there is only one remaining contestant the race is over, meaning that the race can last as long as there are people left. The last remaining contestant will receive "the prize", which is anything he wants for the rest of his life.

Themes in this novel are coming of age, friendship, death, murder, insanity, suicide, challenging oneself, survival, totalitarianism, and propaganda. The author wrote from the point of view of Ray Garraty, and it was effective since Ray Garraty was the winner of the walk and could oversee all of the events during the walk. Also to note that Stephen King generally writes his novels in the third person, but this being a novel under an assumed name, it is written in the first person. Although it has not resembled anything we have read in class so far, it has resembled a book that I have read, 1984, in that there are common themes of totalitarianism and propaganda in both of them, due to them believing in "The Major", a man implied to have great power over the country, and certainly over the people, like Big Brother from 1984. SOm issues that were raised were teenage marriage, suicide, sacrifice, selflessness, and military brutality. During the course of the walk the boys are encountered with extreme physical stress from walking, but also the mental stress over the question as to their survival and their comrades. One of the boys in the novel goes insane, tearing out his own throat after some one yelled if he was ticketed, and after he kills himself, the soldiers still shoot him although he is clearly dead. One of the contestants is revealed to be married, dropping out of high school o support his wife, and although he was the clear favourite to win, said to be like a moose for being able to walk great distances and with 9 : 1 odds in Vegas, he gets pneumonia early on. As a favor from everyone, he asks if they could use some of their prize to help out his soon-to-be widowed wife, and they all agree to help. Knowing this, he goes to some other contestants who are giving up, and they all sit down.

I don't think the author could have done much to improve it, as the book is already superb in it's writing, idea, and editing. I would recommend this book to older people, as it can get quite graphic, and to people who like coming of age stories, horror, and stories of struggle.

Stephen King uses literary devices such as motifs and symbolism to enhance the story. He does this by maintaining a solid motif of survival, both mentally and physically by the struggles Ray faces on the Long Walk. He struggles physically by walking the walk, and struggles mentally by watching the others watching the walk, and overcomes all of it and feels so unrewarded in the end, but somehow keeps on going after he is told that he can stop. And the walk itself is a representation of life itself, in the way that there are good and bad people on it, the reason for it is a highly regarded and respected figure, but is ultimately very unfair and harsh, and at the end, after all those around you have fallen down, you feel the need to rest, but all you really want to do is continue on once you get the energy.