Ch. 3 (entry #2)

Vonnegut said in chapter one that he does not glorify war.  As that statement continues to show itself throughout SH 5, the audience can see very clearly that war is, in one word, awful. Even though serving ones country is a very honorable thing to do, it does not make war anymore glamorous. In the final paragraphs of chapter four the audience sees the conditions that the American POWs had to live in. The Germans loaded up the American POWs into train cars, and "in went water and loaves of black bread and sausage and cheese, and out came shit and piss and language." Now I don't know about the rest of the population of America, but reading this doesn't exactly encourage me to put on an American uniform and go to war. However; making his readers choose not to go to war is one of Vonnegut's objectives.  Reading this chapter also made me see how sheltered the American society has become.  Most American citizens including myself have life so good that we have turned a blind eye to the how bad the world can actually be. However; that is not the case for some people in our country.  The people that live on the streets, the homeless and the poor, know all to well the hardships that society can bring.  The hobo that was riding in the same car a Billy is a perfect example of this. To the hobo " this ain't that bad... this ain't nothing at all." To the rest of the soldiers it was probably one of the worst experiences of their lives, but that just proves my point about Americans are living sheltered lives.