The book is written in first person perspective through the eyes of Kurt Vonnegut a Second World War veteran. The author seeks to write a book on the bombing of the little town of Dresden. It takes place after the war, with the main Vonnegut seeking information for his unwritten book. He is now a married man with two daughters and calls himself an “old fart”. He is now addicted on doing late calls to operators to find pieces of his memory. To research on his book he finds a old friend from war, Bernard V. O’Hare. With his daughters he goes to visit in Pennsylvania. They have a good chat about war when Vonnegut comes to realize he has no good memory of war. Then he has a good chat his friend wife, Marry O’Hare, which he dedicates his book to. In his chat he comes up with a title and a purpose for his book: “The Children’s Crusade”.
The style Vonnegut uses is quite realistic and appealing. You can feel what the character has been through in the words. War has come to define the writing. Although I haven’t been at war I can definitely relate. Our author has, as many characters in both movies and history been impacted greatly by his experiences at war. We can take for example Saving Private Ryan. Matt Damon’s character relives his experiences in WW2. The director (Spielberg) shows us the importance of brotherhood and the brutality in war. Matt Damon’s character is in the movie an old man remembering the other soldiers that gave their lives for his rescue. As Vonnegut, director Steven Spielberg portrays the effects of such small yet impacting experiences. Although both Kurt Vonnegut and Private Ryan (Damon’s character) have tried to live on, they can’t. The memories of war don’t let them, they are indeed changed men.
Francisco, I think your first paragraph is rather a summary of the first chapter than a response, but your second paragraph evens things out. First of all, I think you should rephrase "to research on his book he finds an old friend from war, Bernard O'Hare. With his daughters he to goes visit in Pennsylvania". Maybe put into one sentence to make it clearer. Second, I also think it would sound better if you changed "which he dedicates his book to" into something like "to whom he dedicates his book". I have to disagree with the final sentence of your first paragraph, that is not the title of the book, it's just part of it, and not even the most popular one. Finally, I agree with the main idea of your response; war is a traumatic experience, that one can never get over. Although you should put "as many characters in both movies and history" in parenthesis rather than just one coma.
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