"I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center"

I believe that Vonnegut is trying to convey his fear in this quote.

From the center, one could only see the platform surrounding them. However, out on the edge, one could also see the platform along with those things over the edge. I think that Vonnegut is curious, but fears the unknown. We can see this because in the novel, Vonnegut discusses a forth dimension. He says that everything that is unexplained by humans is in the forth dimension.Isn't that just making up a reason to explain what we (humans) cannot understand yet?

Tralfamadorians were viewed as wise beings, known to be able to see the past, present, and future all at once. They know when a life is born, what they do in between, and how or when they died.
Isn't this sort of like the quote? The center is the present, and we, humans, are standing there. The edge is where the Tralfamadorians are, where they can see everything we can and beyond, they can see the fourth dimension. 

This idea, however, contradicts one of his own points. If Vonnegut is trying to tell us to focus on the present, why should we fear the unknown? We would take each step at a time without any rush, embrace what is to come. Why should there be fear?

Quite opposite to Vonnegut, I want to stay in the center. I would want to focus on what is important in front of me without the need to worry how far I go, whether I'm far enough from the edge so that I don't fall over.

Throughout this project, I realized that I have many contradicting ideas to Vonnegut. But all the same, I have learned a lot from him, and is now able to appreciate everything around me more. Also to be thankful that I do not have a war bombing as a movie replying in my mind all the time. 

poo-tee-wee
                                                                      - Yuemin 

Fate again...

Since I just finished a post on fate/free will, I remembered a movie called Knowing.(Above is the trailer) In the movie, a boy pulled out a sheet of paper with seemingly random numbers written all over it from a time capsule. Coincidentally, the boy’s dad, a MIT professor, found out that those numbers recorded the date, location, and the number of death of every major disaster on earth, even the ones that didn’t happen yet. I tried to imagine myself as that dad, being foretold about all the catastrophic events and not being able to stop them. Life would be miserable if I have to watch fate toy with the world helplessly; Wouldn't it for anyone with a heart and some pity to spare?

If fate really planned everything out for us, let's hope that we'll never get our finger prints on that schedule. Personally, I think it is easier to live our life the way we want to rather than what's destined to come. People are not meant to know the date of their own death, nor to count how many days they have left on earth. Truly, not many people can be as calm as Billy: knowing that he's going to die in New York and still give to speech, seeing deaths of family before it happens and say "So it goes."

If fate ever gives me my schedule, I will burn it.

Poo-Tee-Wee

Nancy

Fate/Free Will

Believing in fate or free will is another commonly argued topic. I personally believe in both (maybe a bit more in free will if I have to choose).


Some people think that money is the root to all solutions. With money, possibly every existing door in the society can be open. With money, there comes power, the power to control things; Yes, money can control fate as well. In fact, fate often plays in favor of money. Children who are born in an aristocratic families are generally exposed to better education and better chances in life. With better foundation, it is easier to exert further. But for every advantage there are drawbacks. Lord Acton once said, "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely." Money can be the root of evils, and the riches are more exposed to the lure. When the riches are prejudiced by the poor, there are no jealousy.

Fate is often unpredictable and unruly, just like the money example that I gave above. Other than money, there are many talents, characteristics that we are to born with; Those, too, are controlled by fate. In contrast to believing in fate, believing in free will offers the adherent more control over the situation. The adherent can decide how much effort to put into a task, rather than obeying what fate decides. (Although both ways, fate decides the amount of output you are to receive.)

Being a slightly meticulous person who doesn't like taking risks, I would say I believe in free will 95% of the time. Free will allows me to work for what I want and watch where my path is heading rather than being blindfolded and lead. To me, believing in free will offers more assurance and stability. (So far, not studying for tests has never granted me a good mark no matter what kind of prayers I say or how much I donate...fate's not on my side if it exists.)

There's still 5% of me that believe in fate though. To me, there are only a few occasions that it's ok to believe in fate:
1.When buying lottery
2.When facing unavoidable, unalterable obstacles
3. When it comes to death of family members/friend, but only if medication fails
4. After math contest, before seeing the score

For all those "keener" out there, do believe in fate only when the situation is mentioned in the list above.


And for those who are unsure, ask yourself those questions. (I stole them from http://lifelessonshome.com)

- How much power do the so-called agents of fate control your life?
      My Opinion: A lot actually, but there's no need to worry about it since we can't control it.
- If omnipotent and omniscient God controls everything that happens in the world, then what is the role of our own decisions?
    My Opinion: Our own decision won't matter that much is everything was just meant to be the way it is. If 
                        every situation is just like a bug trapped in amber, why do we even go to school? We'll end
                        being where we are destined to be anyways.

- Is our free will actually a free choice, or is it an orchestrated action?
   My Opinion: I really have no input on this one. The more I think about it, the more confusing it gets.
- Can our free will decision win over fate?
   My Opinion: Oh, definitely. Ever seen a successful person with poor family background? He surely worked
                       hard for it. But then again, we can argue that he was meant to be impeded when he was
                       young....




Poo-Tee-Wee
Nancy

Billy in the trailer

So, here goes another post on Billy Pilgrim. I watched the five-minutes-long trailer of Slaughterhouse-Five in English class a few days ago and the actor that played Billy just didn’t seem right. I have always imagined him to be a little chubby (accumulated after the war with Valencia of course), with wrinkles that any successful soldiers/ respectable optometrist should have. Also some frown lines on his forehead from the hardship of the war, adorned with a pair of apathetic eyes that have seen way too much to care for anything. Paradoxically, the Billy portrayed in the trailer looked a little too naïve and innocent than what I’ve been picturing.(Above I have included a rough sketch of my version of Billy Pilgrim.)

Some may argue that the Billy showed in the trailer was during the war time, before he became a optometrist. It’s true that Billy was young, but he was describe as older than most soldiers and he befriended with older men like Edgar Derby; More into early thirties or late twenties. Anyways, I have never watched the movie, maybe there will be a more mature version of Billy in the movie that plays the later half of his life!

Poo-Tee-Wee
Nancy

Fate or Free will: why just one?

Ceci's blog made me rethink of the "Fate or Free will" topic that I chose to avoid in Assignment #1.

"But in effect, [Vonnegut]'s also saying, don't hope, because things are already set in stone." 
This was written in response to the idea that Vonnegut believes in fate over free will. That Vonnegut "thinks everything is predestined". Although I agree with Ceci wholeheartedly on Vonnegut's perceptive of fate and free will, a question came to me: why just one?

Take this for example (which was also taken from one of Ceci's posts); Billy gets on the plane even though he knew it would crash and he also still spoke in public even though he knew he was going to get shot.   
From dictionary.com, free will was defined as "free and independent choice; voluntary decision". Billy chose to get on the plane knowing that it would crash. and he chose to speak in public knowing that he was going to get shot. Those are all his independent choices, something that he decided by himself (for once). To put it simply, he chose to believe in fate. 
 
To me, fate and free will are linked. I believe that it's not one or the other, but both at the same time. It's true that Billy Pilgrim was a character who believed in fate. But that was his choice. Just because he believed that everything was predestined, it doesn't mean that he didn't have any free will (or lack of).  It's true that Billy could have looked at his fate in a more optimistic perceptive like the couple in "Fated To Love You", but wasn't that also his own choice to look at it in a pessimistic point of view? 

In my opinion, it all comes down to this:
If you believed in fate, that was because of your free will. It chose to believe in fate.
If you believed in free will, that was fate. It was destined for you to believe in your own free will.

So if someone asked me whether I believed in fate or free will, I would answer: why just one?

Poo-tee-wee
                                                                 - Yuemin

The Defense

Although Slaughterhouse Five, was written so the Germans were the enemies, I do not think that Vonnegut is making an attack on the Germans. In contrast, I think that he is defending the Germans in many aspects of the book. 

I first had a feeling that Vonnegut was trying to defend the Germans was when the American POW was shipped to the temporary British POW camp. When Vonnegut described that the British was getting along very well with the Germans, I understood what Vonnegut could be telling us. The Germans did not try to take away the British's extra food (when they could have obviously done that with a gun), but they traded their own stuff to ensure that both sides has what they want.

I also think that Vonnegut was trying to defend the Germans because of the reaction after the Dresden bombing. If the Germans were all completely bad and filled with hatred, why would they provide shelter to enemies who just destroyed  their home?

The fact that Vonnegut's family was ashamed of their heritage itself proved that the Germans weren't all bad. Their shame towards what the Germans did in WWII displayed their regret towards their own country. Although I can understand the reason behind their attempt at culture conformity, I do not agree. I don't think that one should be ashamed of their own heritage merely because of the fault of a few. After all, isn't that what Vonnegut is trying to tell us? To live in the present, and not mope about your past. To just leave it us that: the past. 

Poo-tee-wee
                                                           - Yuemin  

Deleted scenes of Slaughterhouse-Five

So most movie/video have some kind of bloopers and random clips at the end right?Well, just for fun since our blogging project is coming to an end, there are a few scenes that I would like to add to Slaughterhouse-Five. I roughly sketched them our with a little description below every picture. Please enjoy!!!!!!

Above is Billy's face. Imagine Billy, after proposing to Valencia, the very night before his own wedding specifically went for a tour and time travelled to the lovely Tralfalmadore. There, he sees Valencia, years after marriage with wrinkles around her eyes and a candy bar in one hand. She was driving, then, a truck crashed into her, and she soon died. Would he still marry her? Does he really care...he might just think that Valencia didn't really die like the Tralfamaldorian....

I think there was one blogging assignment where we had to argue whether Billy really travelled in time or that he's just suffering from the plane crash. I read a few post by others and most of them agreed that only Vonnegut would know. But I was think, if only Montana time travelled back to New York and did the speech with Billy, someone might actually believe what Billy said since he have an attractive witness,right?

Ok, last one.The idea of the Three Musketeers sounded interesting to me. But I would like Lazzaro to be in it. For now, the Three Musketeers would be Weary, Billy, and Lazzaro. Let's pretend that Weary didn't die that early and the Three Musketeers all went to Slaughterhouse-Five. In there, they were poorly treated so they decided to escape. The three escaped and went back to America together. Lazzaro, being his old self, stole a scarf from Weary and a pen from Billy. Bill and Weary decided to ditch Lazzaro and take revenge (maybe have him killed). At the same time, Lazzaro realizes that the two companions are no longer loyal, therefore adds them to his to-kill list. Who do you think will die first?


Poo-tee-wee
Nancy