From Past To Future

A few days ago, in my US history class, we mentioned how disease in the seventeenth century broke up as much families as divorcé does today. This shocked me since 50% of families were broken up. How is it that people think they love each other and a few years later end up hating each other? I thought of my future and asked myself how long I would last with my wife. I even asked myself, if by the time I grew up the institution of marriage would still exist. This is sad and scary. As I was reading about the great life of Billy Pilgrim, I came across the answer: “Billy flicked on the light. Robert was sitting on the toilet with his pajama bottoms around his ankles. He was wearing an electric guitar, slung around his neck on a strap.” (Vonnegut, Chapter 8) The answer is lack of attention or individualism. In this particular case Billy had no idea what his son liked and didn’t try to interact with him. His son feels that his parents will reject his love for the guitar and that is why he does it in hiding. What is it that changed over the years that made people so individualistic? It is probably Big Brother. Billy is living a lie and in this chapter he was hit with reality. He did whatever he wanted with no regard for others. The war made him cold and insensible. By finding his son in hiding reality was suddenly a part of his life. We can see more and more how the war has left such a big impact on his life that simple things disturb him. The singing of the men reminded him of the war and what this proves is that you will have to live with your mistakes for the rest of your life. I believe that I have come up with a reasonable answer to divorce: Individualism. If Billy does not pay attention to his son he will have the same memories as he did with the war. Maybe he wont be able to see a guitar or a child in the bathroom without remembering the past. The truth is that you have to be very careful with what you do to others and to yourself because it will last forever.