This post is going to be a collection of thoughts about Rufus, and will probably be filled with a bunch of different ideas all jumbled together. Rufus is an interesting character. We've seen him at various points in life and he's incredibly different every time Dana travels back to see him. So I can't quite figure out what I think about him because he's almost a different person every chapter. I have to admit that I have been sympathetic towards him at some points in the novel, but it changes every time I blink, so I don't really know what to say about his character. Moving on then.
In class we talked about whether Rufus and Alice's relationship (or whatever you want to call it) is like an unrequited love, and I think this is a difficult question to answer because I'm not sure if Rufus knows what love is. Was that an exaggeration? Maybe. But I think that Rufus' life experiences have really skewed his idea about love. We talked in class today about how Rufus seems to only have unstable relationships in his life. His mother, who did seem to love him unconditionally, horrible as she was, abandoned the family. His father thinks he's an idiot and is incredibly harsh. You could say that Dana is one of his friends but he's conditioned to see her as a slave and she keeps leaving too. So not a whole lot of love here. I don't deny that Rufus doesn't have the capability to understand feelings, but with this kind of upbringing I'm sure it's very confusing for him, and that might explain why his love for Alice is so...unconventional. We talked in class about how this has made him more forceful, and we can definitely see that in his "relationship" with Alice. He exercises extreme control in this relationship because it seems to be the only one that he has any control over in the first place. Maybe considering Rufus' situation, we can call this an unrequited love. We'd have to twist the definition of the word "love" a little bit though.
While I think this "love" is really quite pathetic, it does make Rufus more human. At least the feelings for Alice part, raping her makes him more despicable, and once again, I don't know how to feel about Rufus because I understand he's been shaped by his environment but at the same time I don't want to condone his actions at all. So, unrequited love? Or at least unrequited something? What do you think about Rufus' relationships and his version of love?
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Anti Anti-War Hero?
What would it be like to be in Billy's place? What would it be to be unstuck in time? Well I have no idea. I don't know if I'd be like Billy, who is basically just a bystander throughout the entire book, especially if I had the knowledge about time/the lack of free will, etc. that he had.
A few days ago we talked about Billy's position in the wars scenes and how he seems very passive. When we see him in the war, all he does is stand around and miraculously not get killed, despite being probably one of the worst people you could have behind enemy lines. So is he an anti-hero? Or maybe even an anti-war hero? Eh, I'm not so sure about that. Like we discussed in class, Billy isn't necessarily being malicious or evil in any way, so he probably can't exactly be considered an anti-hero. He's the protagonist in this novel, which is an anti-war novel, so maybe he's an anti-war hero, but it's not like he's done anything that exactly goes against war besides being a useless protagonist in Vonnegut's novel? I don't know, I'm not really sure how to classify Billy. I want him to be more active in his life, not just stand in the background and watch it go by him. But at the same time, I don't know if I can blame him.
An idea that was drilled into his head by the Tralfalmadorians was that there is no free will. Billy's life is already decided, nothing he does will change anything, he will always get the same outcomes. Plus, with being unstuck in time, it's not like anything is a surprise. He knows what's going to become of his life. So maybe standing around while the war is literally happening right before his eyes isn't irresponsible. Maybe not working more to stay safe isn't a flaw. He knows he's going to live through it, so technically, doesn't he have nothing to worry about? If it were me, I would probably be more relaxed about the whole thing too (although maybe not quite to the degree that Billy is). While I don't think that he should be so passive about the rest of his life (his marriage, etc.), I can see why this would be the case during World War II.
Billy's a strange character with a strange story, and some of his actions definitely annoy me, but with is unique situation, I guess some of it makes sense. Do you see him as an anti/anti-war/anti anti-war hero? Or is he just a reasonable guy?
A few days ago we talked about Billy's position in the wars scenes and how he seems very passive. When we see him in the war, all he does is stand around and miraculously not get killed, despite being probably one of the worst people you could have behind enemy lines. So is he an anti-hero? Or maybe even an anti-war hero? Eh, I'm not so sure about that. Like we discussed in class, Billy isn't necessarily being malicious or evil in any way, so he probably can't exactly be considered an anti-hero. He's the protagonist in this novel, which is an anti-war novel, so maybe he's an anti-war hero, but it's not like he's done anything that exactly goes against war besides being a useless protagonist in Vonnegut's novel? I don't know, I'm not really sure how to classify Billy. I want him to be more active in his life, not just stand in the background and watch it go by him. But at the same time, I don't know if I can blame him.
An idea that was drilled into his head by the Tralfalmadorians was that there is no free will. Billy's life is already decided, nothing he does will change anything, he will always get the same outcomes. Plus, with being unstuck in time, it's not like anything is a surprise. He knows what's going to become of his life. So maybe standing around while the war is literally happening right before his eyes isn't irresponsible. Maybe not working more to stay safe isn't a flaw. He knows he's going to live through it, so technically, doesn't he have nothing to worry about? If it were me, I would probably be more relaxed about the whole thing too (although maybe not quite to the degree that Billy is). While I don't think that he should be so passive about the rest of his life (his marriage, etc.), I can see why this would be the case during World War II.
Billy's a strange character with a strange story, and some of his actions definitely annoy me, but with is unique situation, I guess some of it makes sense. Do you see him as an anti/anti-war/anti anti-war hero? Or is he just a reasonable guy?
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