The Gospel According to Tralmafadorians

This chapter contained a passage that got my full attention and I thought it was a very interesting way of answering a question that has been present for many years.

“The visitor from outer space made a serious study of Christianity, to learn, if he could, why Christians found it so easy to be cruel. He concluded that t least part of the trouble was slipshod storytelling in the New Testament. He supposed that the intent of the Gospels was to teach people, among other things, to be merciful, even to the lowest of the low. But the Gospels actually taught this: Before you kill somebody, make absolutely sure he isn’t well connected. So it goes. The flaw in the Christ stories, said the visitor from outer space, was that Christ, who didn’t look like much, was actually the Son of the Most Powerful Being in the Universe. Readers understood that, so, when they came to the crucifixion, they naturally thought, and Rosewater read out loud again: Oh, boy-they sure picked the wrong guy to lynch that time! And that thought had a brother: ‘There are right people to lynch.’ Who? People not well connected. So it goes.” (Vonnegut, pg. 108)

I thought that this passage was very wise and when I thought about it, it was also very true. When people think about the killing of Jesus, we usually think it is an atrocity. However, the killing of the other two men in the same place on the same day has no big effect on us. This, of course, is wrong because Jesus was a man like any other and there is no reason why his assassination should shock us more than that of others. I thought that it was amazing that someone would come up with this theory because I would never have been able to create one that was this “simple” yet as true. With this part I think it is easy to see that Vonnegut is criticizing religion in a very direct way, and when read this I thought that it was weird that no religion has been directly mentioned in the novel, sort of like what happens in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels. Another point that was very interesting to me in this chapter was the fact that they had 5 sexes in Tralmafadore, and when I tried to understand the concept of the differences between the sexes being time, and not physical I got very confused. Anyhow, I still think this concept is very interesting, and one that I would like to understand one day.

A blob of amber

“Why anything? Because the moment simply is. Have you ever seen bugs trapped in amber? ...Well here we are, Mr. Pilgrim, trapped in the amber of this moment. There is no why.” I found the example of the amber blob incredible, and it made it easier for me to understand what their time concept really meant. I took the comparison of the insect trapped in the amber and our lives to a next level. The lives of insects, as we see them, are not very significant. Insects live for small periods, we don’t care about them, we don’t believe they have rights, we think their life is boring and routine filled. What if we are just like them? Our live span is a lot for us, but is it really that long? And what do we really do in our life, how are we so different from the insects that we consider inferior to ourselves? I think that in the overall statement of the book, the Tralfamadorians will play a very important role in giving this book the allegorical sense I think it will have. Probably the author included these aliens because through them society can be criticized and many things that are wrong with humanity will be shown.

A wise prayer and a human expirience

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.

This is a prayer that Billy has on his wall in his optometry office, and when I read it, it sounded very familiar to me, as well as very wise. I don’t know for sure if I had heard it before reading the book or not, but nonetheless I feel that this small prayer has an amazing strength. It is very true that many things I life cannot be changed, and instead of spending time trying to get them to be different or being reluctant to accept these things, one can get a lot more from them if one accepts what has happened and learns from it. The things that can be changed are the hardest to do most times. Making the right choice is not always easy, and that is why courage to do what is right even if it is hard is very important. Wisdom is, in my opinion, the most important of the three traits mentioned in this prayer. With wisdom it is possible for each trait to be used in the appropriate time.

Another important part of this chapter was the description of the way the war prisoners were taken to the prison camp. I think that this vivid way in which he describes the way they were packed in a small boxcar, the way they were fed, and how it was to live in those conditions shows a very real side of the war, and a very non-romanticized look at it that is not usually shown.

A new concept of time

Tralfamadore. As soon as this planet is mentioned in the book, my previous assumptions that the book would be a different and one of a kind description of World War Two were confirmed. The most interesting thing about this was the Tralfamadorian concept of time, and although it took me some time to understand what they meant, when I finally did I pondered on this subject for a long time. “All moments, past, present, and future, always have existed, always will exist. The Tralfamadorians can look at all the different moments just the way can look at a stretch of the Rocky Mountains, for instance.” Would things be the same if time was not relative and if you could live every moment forever? Would there be any morale in humanity if actions had consequences, but if you could stay in the action at the same time? Would people live afraid of what came ahead if they knew that what they were living that moment could go on forever? Personally, I would think that if you robbed a bank, and had one great month of a luxurious life before the police caught you, and when they did you could still be living the luxurious lifestyle; people would rob banks all the time. People would do dangerous things that bring lots of adrenaline all the time too, and I think in general the consciousness of humanity would take a giant plunge. I think that Vonnegut is a very creative person to come up with this concept of time, and it interested me in the book because now I want to see how this time idea and the aliens tie into the story.

Evidence and predictions

The book Slaughterhouse-Five is a book about the Second World War. The narrator talks in first person and he is telling the story after it has already happened. When he refers to the war he talks about very specific events that occurred to him or to his friends, and this gives the story a very personal feeling. Although after reading the first chapter I don’t really know much about the book I think it is clear that the narrator has lived peculiar experiences and the book will not be a usual war book. I thought it was very interesting to see how the narrator thinks war events lose importance with time because I think that the opposite happens and instead they have more importance and gain people’s interests more when time has gone by. I am looking forward to reading this book because the Second World War is a topic that I have always been interested in and because I think the story will be told in a new, unique way.

The Wayuus in Inferno

Although Dante’s Inferno does not mention the Wayuu culture directly because when it was written America had not even been discovered and thus it was impossible for Dante to know they existed. However, if the Wayuu had to be put in one circle of inferno I think that they would be put in the First Circle, or the Limbo. This is the place where people that have not been baptized go because as they have not identified themselves with God, He cannot punish them for committing no sins, but they can’t go to heaven either. Dante says that although they might have worshiped a God, they did this in wrong ways and they will have to stay in the Limbo for living before Christianity. A quote that supports this from the text is, “…they did not sin; and yet, though they have merits, that’s not enough, because they lack baptism, the portal of faith that you embrace. And if they lived before Christianity, they did not worship God in fitting ways…” (Dante, Inferno, pg. 33)

Today's classwork

As God doles out justice in Inferno is it fair or unfair? Explain.

I think that in Dante's Inferno when God judges people based on their actions while they were alive and then decides where to sent them to in Inferno, the place they are assigned is fair for what they have done if they have to be judged. However, I think that the initial judgment where God decides if you will go to hell or heaven is not fair. The law of God says that we should love all other individuals, with no exceptions. It also states that we must forgive everyone. I find that when God sends you to hell He himself is not following the rules he wants everyone else to follow as he should love every person and forgive whatever sins they have committed. Instead, he sends the sinners to hell, where they will suffer for eternity. Within this injustice there is still an organization method that allows an "appropriate" amount of suffering for each sinner. We can see in Inferno that hell has different rings, and each has a suffering level that matches a certain level of sins.

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A. What is the difference between a blog and a book?
-> In my opinion, there are many differences between a blog and a book. First of all, most books are directed to a general audience while blogs target a specific crowd with very narrow and focused interests. Another difference is that a book has a strict format that must be used; paragraphs, punctuation, correct grammar, etc. A blog, on the other hand, can use whatever format and whatever means of communication it wants. While books are limited to words and in some cases images, blogs can contain anything form words to videos to links. Blogs are interactive and in some discussions and comments are allowed, and even encouraged. Books are very personal and have no room for discussion.

B. How have blogs changed recently?
-> Today blogs are different from what they were in the past mainly because of the increase in commentaries and narration from the author. Before, blogs used to serve as a link list for sites of interest to a common group of people. In the present authors comment and criticize nearly everything, and the links are provided as support and not as the main feature.

C. Why might you read a blog?
-> You might read a blog because you have an interest in the subject it deals with and you want to find out what other people think about it and maybe get the chance to comment on this view of the subject. A blog might be read because it is funny, because it has periodical postings but time in between them to rest from it, because it contains information presented in a lighter way, or maybe because people all around the world that are just like the common reader are the authors.

D. Is there reason to doubt the objectivity of a blog? Why? Why not?
-> I would always doubt the objectivity of a blog because people usually use blogs to express their opinions about specific subjects making it completely subjective. Also, the anonymity of the authors provides room for opinions that won't cause the author personal trouble, and because of this the probability of finding opinions in them is very likely.

E. Identify three blogs that mention our summer reading.
-> Three blogs that mention our summer reading are:
-http://chris-book-a-rama.blogspot.com/2009/02/1984-by-george-orwell.html
-http://ericjennings.wordpress.com/2007/06/07/farenheit-451/
-http://archiearchive.wordpress.com/2007/01/21/the-dantes-inferno-test/