Table of ContentsRepresenting the Character of Billy Using Different Literary TechniquesThe Motif of Mustard Gas and RosesConclusionIn a literary text, imagery allows the author to appeal to the human senses through the use of bright colors and descriptive language. Kurt Vonnegut integrates this rhetorical device into the text of his novel Slaughterhouse Five, using colorful patterns and olfactory images. Vonnegut uses imagery to convey the emotions and personal qualities of the novel's protagonist, Billy. He is able to accomplish this by connecting Billy's character to several motifs that continually appear throughout the plot of Slaughterhouse Five. Thus, the presence of colorful patterns and olfactory images in Slaughterhouse Five advances and strengthens the characterization of Billy Pilgrim throughout the novel. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Depicting the character of Billy using different literary techniques At the beginning of the novel, Billy writes a letter to the Ilium newspaper regarding his experience on the planet Tralfamadore. He works on this letter in the cool environment of his cellar, where “the temperature in the house was…fifty degrees” since “the oil burner had gone out” (26). The cool environment also affects Billy's body as "his bare feet were blue and ivory" (26). However, “the cockles of Billy’s heart, in any case, were burning coals. What made them so hot was Billy's belief that he would comfort so many people with the truth of the times” (26). Vonnegut is able to effectively delineate Billy's delusional character. First, he describes the colors of Billy's feet as blue and ivory. In Slaughterhouse Five, blue and ivory represent the thin line that separates worldly experiences from otherworldly experiences. To show, every time Billy is about to "time travel" in the text, his feet turn blue and ivory and he soon finds himself in a completely different place and time. Essentially, the blue and ivory pattern is an indicator of when Billy transitions from reality to fantasy, and vice versa. Additionally, Vonnegut uses these colors to show that Billy is on a threshold that separates mutually exclusive states (worldly and otherworldly). Billy's position reflects his state of disillusionment, as shown by his belief that he lives in two worlds: Earth and the four-dimensional planet of Tralfamadore, where the inhabitants exist simultaneously at all times. The extent of Billy's disillusionment is also illustrated by Vonnegut's use of imagery and metaphor: the comparison of his heart to burning coals. Billy is so invested in his experiences in Tralfamadore that he has a burning passion to publish his escapades in Ilium. Additionally, his heart is warmed because he believes that he can impact many people through the truth of time. In reality, Billy's mental stability has declined significantly since his time in World War II, to the point where he can no longer distinguish reality from fantasy. Finally, the contrast between the cool environment of Billy's basement and the fiery passion that exists in his heart suggests his disconnection from reality. The cool environment of his basement represents the mundane reality of Earth, while the fiery passion that exists in Billy's heart signifies his delusional character - as he believes he can change the world by revealing the truth about the time. Therefore, at the beginning of Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut is able tocharacterize Billy as a delusional man who believes he coexists in two distinct worlds by using color patterns and images. Later in Slaughterhouse Five, Billy is captured by the Germans and put on a train with other American soldiers. The train “[was] marked with an orange and black striped banner, indicating that [it] was not fair prey for the planes – that it was carrying prisoners of war” (66). The orange and black motif also appears when Billy has trouble sleeping on his daughter's wedding night. “The wedding took place that afternoon in a cheerfully striped tent in Billy's garden. The stripes were orange and black” (69). The repetition of the orange and black pattern reflects the effect of the war on Billy. Even in his happiest moments, like his daughter's wedding, he remembers the horrors he experienced during the war. In a way, the orange and black pattern represents Billy's post-traumatic stress disorder, which begins to manifest during his time in the war. For example, a doctor orders Billy to take a daily nap, but "every now and then, for no apparent reason, [he] would start crying... Only the doctor knew." It was an extremely quiet thing that Billy was doing and not very wet” (59). Billy's sleep problems alienate the other prisoners and "Almost everyone...had an atrocity story about something [Billy] had done to him in his sleep." Everybody told Billy Pilgrim to keep hell away” (75). Billy's PTSD also appears when a siren goes off; “He expected World War III at any moment. The siren simply announced noon” (55). Vonnegut uses the orange and black motif effectively to illustrate Billy's PTSD, as the colors make him reflect on his time in the war. When Billy's feet turn blue and ivory, he goes downstairs and sees a distorted film about World War II, where "American planes, full of holes and wounded and dead bodies, were taking off backwards from an airfield in England." Over France, a few German fighter planes flew toward them backwards, sucking up bullets and shell fragments from some planes and crew members” (71). The orange and black pattern also represents Billy's view of his marriage, as it combines the stripes of the tent where the wedding took place with the stripes of the train that transported the prisoners of war. Billy feels trapped in his marriage because he didn't marry Valencia out of love, he married her out of convenience, since his father owns the Ilium optometry school (where Billy later studies). Additionally, when Billy returns to his wedding night, Vonnegut reveals that "he had already seen a lot of their marriage, thanks to time travel, he knew it was going to be at least bearable until the end" ( 114). It's obvious that Billy feels trapped when he explains that marriage would at least be bearable. Additionally, when Valencia tells Billy "I never thought anyone would marry me" (114), all he manages to say is "Um" (114), which suggests his awareness of the difficult situation he has put himself in. The orange and black pattern effectively illustrates Billy's feelings as he was once stuck on a train as a prisoner of war and is now stuck in a marriage to Valencia, a person he doesn't really love . To summarize, Vonnegut is able to use an orange and black motif to depict Billy's mental fragility and to illustrate Billy's feeling trapped in his marriage to Valencia. The Mustard Gas and Roses Motif Throughout the plot of Slaughterhouse Five, the mustard gas and roses motif is continually mentioned..