Tobe Bryant: The Black Mamba

     In William Faulkner's short story "A Rose for Emily," the author zooms in on the life of Emily Grierson. Much is revealed about her life through the eyes of neighboring narrators. The reader is able to learn of Emily's actions, which help to characterize the title character. The reader is also able to learn much about certain other characters, most notably Emily's father and her husband (?) Homer Barron. But there is also one other character whose name is given just once who also has a meaningful impact on the life of Emily and on the plot of the story itself. This character is the Grierson's servant (or perhaps slave?), Tobe. I am sure that this is his name because when Emily calls the name, the man immediately appears: "[Emily:] 'I have no taxes in Jefferson. Tobe!' The Negro appeared. 'Show these gentlemen out'" (Faulkner, 283). Obviously, Tobe must be  the name of the African-American servant of her household. Perhaps he is her butler and is similar to the character Jeffrey from "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." The reader doesn't learn much about Tobe because the narrator doesn't provide much description of him. But he is definitely an important piece of the story as a whole. Without Tobe, the reader would not have been able to learn of Emily's laziness and deteriorating health. She has become an ultra-homebody, which means that she must rely greatly on Tobe's services in order to maintain her way of life. He goes to the store for her, presumably so that she does not have to be seen in public. Without actually speaking, Tobe is able to characterize himself and Emily alike. He is very loyal and is never seen complaining about meeting her every whim. Perhaps this is because he knows his place in society, or perhaps this is because he knows better than to mess with Miss Grierson. And yet, as Emily's life goes on, Tobe's presence remains constant up until the very end. Once Emily has finally died, the narrator begins to reveal a little more about Tobe. For example, the narrator explains, "We did not even know she was sick; we had long since given up trying to get any information from the Negro. He talked to no one, probably not even to her, for his voice had grown harsh and rusty, as if from disuse. ... The Negro met the first o f the ladies at the front door and let them in, with their hushed, sibilant voices and their quick, curious glances, and then he disappeared. He walked right through the house and out the back and was not seen again" (Faulkner, 288-9). With this quote, the reader is able to learn much about Jeffrey, namely how loyal in character he truly was. He never disclosed any gossip to the neighbors and did not talk much. He was introspective and loyal, remaining with Emily until he realized his services were no longer necessary. Perhaps his lack of speaking characterizes Tobe as slightly uneducated, but that was not uncommon for an African-American of his time. Emily depended on Tobe greatly, which proves that he is trustworthy and humble at heart.

Poo-tee-weet?

In chapter 10 of Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut concludes the book with a rather interesting phrase. Interesting, that is, to the casual reader who skimmed through just to finish reading for the sake of finishing.  For me, however, I knew the phrase was coming all along. After studying chapter after chapter, I knew how the book would end, and I knew what word would be used.
Vonnegut's conclusion of the book is, "Birds were talking. One bird said to Billy Pilgrim, 'Poo-tee-weet?'" (215). Again, a casual reader would find "Poo-tee-weet?" to be a rather strange way to end the book. However, Vonnegut's purpose with this phrase is directly outlined in Chapter One. As a way of continuing his return into the book's forefront, Vonnegut ended the book just how he said he would at the beginning.
In chapter 1, Vonnegut uses the phrase "Poo-tee-weet?" twice, located on pages 19 and 22. On page 19, Vonnegut says, "And what do the birds say? All there is to say about a massacre, things like 'Poo-tee-weet?'" Vonnegut directly foreshadows what will later happen in the book. On page 215, the survivors of the massacre are clouded in silence: they do not know what to say. However, the bird breaks the silence, just like Vonnegut said it would, by saying "Poo-tee-weet." On page 22, Vonnegut says, "It begins like this: Listen: Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time. It ends like this: Poo-tee-weet?"
As a way of connecting the overall frame story from chapter one when it seemed Vonnegut himself would be the main character, he returns to his story at the end to connect with Billy Pilgrim. Furthermore, he ends the story exactly how he said he would, and how I had been anticipating for some time, with a bird. With nothing to say about the horrific bombing themselves, the survivors can only remain silent, but birds are never silenced. To birds, the firebombing was just another event in their lives, so they should just go on tweeting like they knew it would happen anyways. Perhaps Vonnegut is connecting the birds to the Tralfamadorians. Both seem to go on with their lives as if it's all part of the plan and death is unavoidable. So it goes.

Roses and Mustard Gas

In the final chapter of Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut re-introduces himself into the story. He returns to speaking in first person of the situations that happened to him and Billy Pilgrim. On page 214, Vonnegut makes a personal observation of what it was like in the "corpse mines" of Dresden. He gives the reader the image of, "There were hundreds of corpse mines operating by and by. They didn't smell bad at first, were wax museums. But then the bodies rotted and liquefied, and the stink was like roses and mustard gas."
Yuck. Roses and mustard gas? I've heard that before, from the first chapter to describe alcoholic breath. Vonnegut is directly referencing the first chapter here, and he is also giving the reader a direct image appealing to the reader's sense of scents, smell. Vonnegut uses this image to describe that the smell of the rotting corpses is the worst smell he can think of, so he associates the smell with alcoholism and roses and mustard gas, which must not be Vonnegut's two favorite stenches. Whenever Vonnegut describes a rotten odor, he always refers to the stench as "roses and mustard gas." He clearly must hate the scents.
In addition, the quote above also is more than an image; it is a dramatic understatement. An understatement is a severe type of verbal irony where the author says much less than what is meant. When Vonnegut says, "They didn't smell bad at first... the stink was like roses and mustard gas", he is understating just how rotten the smell actually was. Dead bodies are clearly much stinkier than roses and mustard gas, but, again, Vonnegut simply used those two smells to reference chapter one.The reader knows Vonnegut wasn't serious when he said they didn't smell bad at first. Of course they did! We're talking dead bodies here. Gross.
To conclude, I'm going to provide a video from Spongebob, because whenever something smells bad, I always quote Mr Krabs from the very first episode. Surely, whenever Vonnegut smells something he doesn't like, he must always compare the stench to roses and mustard gas, but I always use this quote from Mr Krabs:

Live from WOOF Studios, the Channel 3 News

In Chapter 9 of Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut includes several comments of his own on "the real world." One example is found on page 200, when Vonnegut says, "The news of the day, meanwhile, was being written in a ribbon of lights on a building to billy's back. The window reflected the news. It was about power and sports and anger and death. So it goes."
See what I mean? Vonnegut is directly satirizing what has become of the daily news. From several TV anchors to a repetitive replication of the same news over and over across several stations, the news isn't exactly new anymore. It's become more of the same. In Vonnegut's eyes, it's the same daily across American news stations with focus on power, sports, anger, and death. In a nutshell, Vonnegut is right. This is essentially all that ever appears on the news, with all the topics falling into at least one of the categories, if not several. (Well, except for the weather, but what do the weathermen know anyways?) Vonnegut is directly criticizing the news, and he generalized what every local TV station has been reiterating for years now.
The local news have been critiqued across several spectrums, including the TV show "Whose Line Is It Anyways?" Vonnegut is simply jumping on board with his critique of the news by simply stating the only four categories that ever seem to occur on the news. Vonnegut satirizes the news accurately, and I'm sure no one can truly argue one way or the other against his point.
And to conclude, I'm going to leave it to the "Boom Goes the Dynamite" Guy. Enjoy:

Lily Learns a Thing or Two

In Chapter 9 of Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut briefly introduces a few new characters to the life of Billy Pilgrim. While in the hospital after his plane crashed, Pilgrim's roommates, Bertram Rumfoord, and his wife Lily. Rumfoord's fifth wife, Lily is indirectly characterized by Vonnegut as an uneducated high school dropout with little knowledge inside her head. In fact, could she even read?
Here are a few things Vonnegut directly states about Lily's character: she is Rumfoord's fifth wife and is twenty-three years of age.
Indirectly, Vonnegut later characterizes her as a pretty young girl, but I wouldn't say the lights are exactly on upstairs. Vonnegut says, "[Lily] had been an a-go-go girl when Rumfoord saw her and resolved to make her his own. She was a high school dropout. Her IQ was 103" (184). Honestly, I don't know too much about IQs, but I do know that if Vonnegut were to mention it, I doubt it would be too high. Especially about poor Lily, who just doesn't seem to know any better. Poor Lily. The reader also knows that she was a high school dropout and an a-go-go, so her life hasn't gone extremely smoothly. She has had a rough life so far, and marrying an old man like Rumfoord seemed to be a good option for her, so that also tells the reader how slowly the cogs are turning in her head. Let's just say she isn't exactly the brightest Crayola in the box.
Later in the chapter, Vonnegut continues to indirectly characterize Lily as a dim-witted dropout with a life made difficult by her lack of education. A few examples of Lily's uneducation include:

• "She didn't read well, which was one of the reasons she dropped out of high school" (185). The poor girl can't read? Yikes. Most people learn to read by high school, so that's a great example of Lily's sad lack of education.
• "He knew very little about her, except that she was one more public demonstration that he was superman" (185). She probably only married the guy for his money. She couldn't actually love him. Shaking my head.
• "So Lily sat down and pretended to read the Truman thing" (185). I can actually hear her saying, "Ok, I'll just read this Truman thing." Lily is somewhat of a stereotypical teenager with poor speaking abilities.

Those are three examples I found, and all are on the very next page from the introduction of Lily. it's sad that she hasn't gotten proper education throughout her life. She has struggled greatly in the classroom, but at least she's pretty. That seems to be all that Rumfoord cares about her, and he married her for all the wrong reasons. Although her lack of education isn't something to be laughed at, Vonnegut probably introduces her into his book as a form of satirizing high school dropouts who later marry old men for money. Vonnegut is trying to make fun of the uneducated women in American society. Shaking my head.

A Story Within A Story Within A Story Within.....

A frame inside a frame inside a frame

Chapter 8 of Slaughterhouse-Five is probably best described as a frame story. In fact, it's more than just that. It's more like a frame-frame-frame-frame story, or something along those lines. The entire chapter is interlocked as a paragon of Vonnegut's story-telling thus far. Inside a few of the stories, he tells stories of stories from the original frame, and vice versa.
For example, the chapter's original frame begins by describing American Nazi Howard W. Campbell, Jr. Edgar Derby would later stick up for American rights, telling Campbell he was something worse than a snake for being a traitor (Benedict Arnold-esque for leaving the American side).
The chapter then jumps to an original frame from long ago, with Billy's daughter scolding his behavior and wishing to kill Kilgore Trout for putting such crazy thoughts into his head.
Now the chapter shifts to a segue of Billy's first time meeting Trout, who is now a circulation man for the Ilium Gazette.
An excellent example of a frame inside this encounter is found on page 167, when Vonnegut describes the situation as, "'Hell no,' said Kilgore Trout. 'You think money grows on trees?' 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." This frame story is somewhat of an aside because it is so brief; however it is a frame story because he shifts from the original story into a description of one of Trout's books, including several details.
More frames are found throughout the chapter, including Billy's eighteenth wedding anniversary party, his recall of the Dresden bombing (which is what I was talking about when I said he tells stories of stories from the original frame, or in this case, the beginning of the chapter), which leads to another story within a story, when Billy travels to Tralfamadore to tell Montana Wildhack of his experience after the bombing on the "moon" of Dresden.
This is an excellent transition from Vonnegut because the rest of the chapter focuses on the moon/Dresden. Billy Pilgrim was in his bedroom, reminiscing on the Dresden bombing, and the story shifts to that setting. Then, Billy comes unstuck in time and recalls when he told Montana Wildhack about the bombing. He then recalls fleeing to a suburb and finding an inn to sleep in for the night. In a way, Vonnegut has accomplished a difficult task of framing the anniversary party around Dresden bombing around Montana Wildhack in Tralfamadore around Dresden again.
Vonnegut probably placed the entirety of Chapter 8 in a frame setting to remind the reader of several various settings throughout the book's plot. He is also able to remind the reader of how Billy has been coming unstuck in time. However, the entire book has been centered around the Dresden bombing, and in this chapter, the reader encounters the climax of the plot of the bombing story. Personally, I am curious to find out what will happen in the next two chapters. How will Vonnegut be able to conclude all the side stories that have evolved throughout the entire book? I know Billy will live for a while because I already know how and when he will die. But how will everything else turn out? I guess I'll just have to read to find out.

That's One Small Step for Man

In Chapter 8 of Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut develops a cliche about how Dresden had transformed into the moon after the bombing. Vonnegut is able to portray an image of a barren wasteland to the reader where everything that once was there, only used to be there. In the quote, "Dresden was like the moon now, nothing but minerals. The stones were hot. Everybody else in the neighborhood was dead" (178), Vonnegut first introduces his comparison between Dresden and the moon. As a reader, I instantly thought, "Wow" because it made me realize just how severe the damage truly was. Vonnegut is able to transform this experience that few people could relate or connect to into an experience that everyone can connect to. Everyone on Earth can relate to a simile of the moon because everyone on Earth has seen the moon and knows what it looks like. With this first simile, Vonnegut is able to grab the reader's attention and explain symbolically what it was like.
But he wasn't done there.
What makes this simile a cliche are Vonnegut's repetitive references to his original simile of "Dresden was like the moon." For the next few pages, Vonnegut's effort of focusing on his simile becomes cliche, or a dead simile (which isn't technically on the literary terms sheet, but I made it up because it isn't quite a dead metaphor).
For example,

• On page 179, when Billy is describing the bombing of Dresden to Montana Wildhack, he says, "'It was like the moon.'" Vonnegut's first directly refers to the original simile. ("Dresden was like the moon.")
• Later, on the same page and into the next one (180), Vonnegut describes the reaction to the bombing as, "It was realized then that there was no food or water, and that the survivors, if they were going to survive, were going to have to climb over curve after curve on the face of the moon." Here, Vonnegut is describing the rocky surface of the remains of the town. In this way, he is abstractly comparing Dresden to the craters of the moon. This could be seen as an extended or implied metaphor.
• In the next sentence, Vonnegut says, "The curves were smooth only when seen from a distance" (180). Just like, say, the moon, perhaps?
• In the following paragraph, Vonnegut includes two references to the moon with "Nobody talked much as the expedition crossed the moon." (180) and "There were to be no moon men at all" (180). The latter of these references is also an extended/implied metaphor that these survivors are now akin to moon men.

Therefore, Vonnegut's original simile comparing Dresden to the moon has grown tired and cliche. The spontaneity is now gone, and the effect of the initial simile is now ineffective. With Vonnegut's repetetive comparison to the moon, the reader is no longer thinking "Wow" and is now thinking "Okay, I get it. Dresden is the moon. It's been established." Vonnegut's original simile was excellent, but by the end of the chapter, the comparison has been over-emphasized.