Connect both to the aspect
of Tralfamadorian
literature.
"there isn't any particular
relationship between the
messages, except that the
author has chosen them
carefully"
Carver
The stories are random in
terms of their content and
also how each one shows a
very peculiar moment, but
what connects them is
their structure and the fact
that they all help Carver
explain love and
relationships in a realistic
way.
Kurt
The book in itself can be read as
part of Tralfamadorian literature
as the story is told in fragments,
and the only connection between
them is Billy Pilgrim, but in an
indirect way the stories help
shape what Kurt wants to say
about war, without ever having
to explain it directly, we
understand it through the story
order and their connections.
Expressing the inexpressible
Love
Why Don't you Dance?
“She kept talking. She
told everyone. There
was more to it, and
she was trying to get it
talked out. After a
time, she quit trying.”
Cathedral
What We Talk ABout
When We Talk About Love
"Say what you want to, but
I know it was (...) it may
sound crazy to you, but it's
true just the same. People
are different, Mel. Sure
sometimes he may have
acted crazy. Okay. But he
loved me. There was love
there, Mel. Don't say there
wasn't"
War
Through juxtaposition
of his thoughts - what
he says isn't exactly
what he feels/ thinks
“Everything was beautiful
and nothing hurt.”
"That's one thing
Earthlings might learn
to do, if they tried
hard enough: Ignore
the awful times and
concentrate on the
good ones.”
So it goes.
“How nice -- to feel
nothing, and still get full
credit for being alive.”
“ Everything is nothing,
with a twist”
“And I asked myself
about the present: how
wide it was, how deep it
was, how much was
mine to keep”
Nonlinear
Third-person narrator
Lets the intimacy
and empathy
towards the
characters become
subjective
Different
Carver
Short Stories
By being a
collection of short
stories, the
moments we are
exposed to are
very small - just
slices of peoples
lives
Minimalist
Simplistic
punctuation
Focus of detailed
description is on small
things that seem
irrelevant - but they add to
the fact that what he is
trying to explained cannot
be explained in words, and
so by not explaining the
meaning of the stories
directly, he conveys the
same sensations in his
structure as the ones he is
trying to portray
“The girl opened and closed her eyes” -
Why don't you dance?
Genres
Sci-fi
Kurt takes advantage of
the sci-fi genre through
time-travel and the
tralfamadores which
makes him deviate from
a normal chronological
story structure
"He closed his eyes, then
opened them again. He was
still weeping, but he was back
in Luxemburg again"
Drama
Carver deviates from the
conventions of a normal
drama by taking
advantage of the purpose
of short stories and
therefore only showing
very small and singular
moments of the
character's lives.
The reader never gets
closures and therefore
is stuck on an eternal
post-reflection
The reader can
therefore only
judge the
characters based
on their reactions,
dialogue and
interactions of that
single moment -
we don't get
anything on their
past nor future.
in the end, it is a
very accurate
representation of
reality