Essay On Billy

SlaughterHouse-Five is a book about a man named Billy Pilgrim who is stuck in time, and constantly travels throughout different events in his life. Billy accepts different values and sees traumatic and morbid events differently than others. Billy accepts a way of life that is not perceivable to other humans. Many would argue that Billy’s experiences make him insane, but Billy’s experiences with the Tralfamadorians actually allows him to preserve his sanity, and stay a very intelligent man.

When Billy finishes settling down and unpacking his belongings in his room, the Landlady requests that he sign her guestbook, stating it is a “law of the land” “‘I’ll leave you now so that you can unpack. But before you go to bed, would you be kind enough to pop into the sitting-room on the ground floor and sign the book? Everyone has to do that because it’s the law of the land, and we don’t want to go breaking any laws at this stage in the proceedings, do we?’” Billy proceeds to sign the book, however, he is startled by a name that strikes the chord. Christopher Mulholland. He ponders and inquires the Landlady if perhaps he was famous, an athlete, or maybe mentioned in the news. Suddenly, it hits him that Mulholland is the Eton schoolboy that obscurely vanished three years ago, about the time when the guestbook was signed “‘Mulholland ... Christopher Mulholland ... wasn’t that the name of the Eton schoolboy who was on a walking-tour through the West Country, and then all of a sudden …’” Nonetheless, the dreadful woman asserts that her Mulholland was not the one described by Mr. Weaver. Lights are flashing at Billy to turn around and leave. Undoubtedly, it is an uninviting sign if your housekeeper for the night is a possible kidnapper. Moreover, she refers to her past guests as if they still are visitors, despite the

A question that arises in almost any medium of art, be it music, film or literature, is whether or not the depiction of violence is merely gratuitous or whether it is a legitimate artistic expression. There can be no doubt that Michael Ondaatje's long poem The Collected Works of Billy the Kid is a violent work, but certain factors should be kept in mind before passing it off as an attempt to shock and titillate; certainly, the poem does both of these, but they are not the primary purpose of the work. For one thing, social context needs to be considered; Billy lived in the "Wild West", a time associated with range wars, shoot-outs and great train

Many people have been born that have struck a chord with the world. Some people have become legends, patriots and even heroes. Though one person stood out among the rest, this one was not made a hero, but was born to be one. He was a hero at what he strived to be in life and he has captured the attention of the public like no other solider has done before or since. This great Canadian Air Force Ace became one of the legendary figures in 20th century air warfare. With his daring and dramatic dogfights in France, he achieved a record of 72 kills in his many encounters. His role on the ground during the Second World War training pilots changed and inspired a whole new generation of fighter pilots. This man is known

Huck Finn's relationship with slavery is very complex and often contradictory. He has been brought up to accept slavery. He can think of no worse crime than helping to free a slave. Despite this, he finds himself on the run with Jim, a runaway slave, and doing everything in his power to protect him. Huck Finn grew up around slavery. His father is a violent racist, who launches into tirades at the idea of free blacks roaming around the countryside. Miss Watson owns slaves, including Jim, so that no matter where he goes, the idea of blacks as slaves is reinforced. The story takes place during the 1840's, at a time when racial tensions were on the rise, as northern abolitionists tried to stir up trouble in the South. This prompted a

There are many ways to interpret a book, one can read it as a character’s adventure, a conflict of ideas or emotions, or a story. For myself, I read the books, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison and Billy Budd, Sailor by Herman Melville, in an ironic sense; and while doing this, I noticed that both books showed an intuitive sense of sociology. Furthermore, what mattered most by reading the books ironically is that it is easy to see the outcome of a situation which is pleasing to be conscious of. It is easy to see the outcome of a situation because when one is paying attention to a character, one’s attention is toward a character, except when one’s attention is on an entire situation, one’s attention is on the flow of events and then the

He is not quite pleased. He reaches to a cupboard, takes a pinch of salt and drops it into the pot. As he is tasting again her footsteps are heard on the stair. He swings the pot into the fireplace a goes to a basin and washes his hands and face, Elizabeth enters. Without Elizabeth present, Proctor adds salt, as he is dissatisfied with the way the soup tastes.

Billy the Kid was born William Henry McCarty Junior. on November 13, 1859 in New York, New York. William was a healthy baby with a happy life for a short period of time. It is thought that when William was very, very young his father, William Henry McCarty either died or left William and his Mom. A few years later, William’s mom, Catherine McCarty married Williams stepfather, William Antrim. Billy the Kid had a brother, Joseph McCarty, who went with Jo for short, but it is unknown whether he was older or younger. Little is known about Billy the Kid’s childhood, but when he was fifteen years old Billy’s mom, Catherine McCarty passed away because of tuberculosis. This was a hard and difficult tragedy for the Billy and Joseph to get over, considering that they never even met their father. After the McCarty brother’s mom passed away both boys were orphaned and had no home or family to go to live with. They started living on

Throughout Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, racism and slavery are two major thematic concepts pulsing through the novel. Through incidents, comments made by the characters, and statements by the narrator, Twain enables the readers to observe the attitudes of the people concerning discrimination and involuntary servitude before the Emancipation Proclamation. Not only does his use of language and comments help the reader better comprehend the social attitudes of the time period, it also enlightens the audience of Twain’s attitude towards slavery and racism. Twain is known for voicing his opinions and observations through characters, and in this novel it is no different. The audience is

Even though the gruesome, ghastly and demonic story known as “The Landlady” ends in a disturbing way, it portrays many characteristics about the protagonist, Billy. There are numerous ways to characterize Billy, a 17-year-old kid on his first business trip in the strange city of Bath, England. Billy begins his journey to a hotel known as the Bell and Dragon but stumbles to a halt when he sees a seemingly cozy bed and breakfast that catches his eye. For a few pages everything seems great; unfortunately for Billy, he has some flaws which ultimately lead to his shocking death at the hands of a demented landlady. These are curiosity, a tendency to miss important clues, and gullibility.

    Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn is perhaps one of the most controversial novels the North American Continent has ever produced.  Since its publication more than a hundred years ago controversy has surrounded the book.  The most basic debate surrounding Twain's masterpiece is whether the book's language and the character of Jim are presented in a racist manner.  Many have called for the book to be banned from our nation's schools and libraries.  Mark Twain's novel is about a young boy who was raised in the south before slavery was abolished, a place where racism and bigotry were the fabric of every day life.  The novel is the account of how Huck Finn, who is a product of these

Frederick was a strange man that lived in a big house, on a big hill, in a small town. It was tall, gloomy, house that was painted a depressing shade of grey. The house was more than big enough for him, only living with his dog, Copper. No one liked to talk to Frederick because, truthfully, he was creepy. He would go to the grocery store and only buy a jar of salt and a bottle of clam juice, and he would never look anyone in the eye when they tried to ask him how he was doing. It wasn’t always like this, Frederick used to be a well-known and adored man. Then his wife , Marie, mysteriously disappeared one cloudy day, and ever since the town always felt more dreary. People would share a look as Frederick would amble down the street, a suspicious

Billy has a history of mental problems he has been institutionalized twice. The first time was when he father died this was while he was in training, before he went off to war. The second time was when he came back from the war. Plus he had the head injury from the plane crash. He only started talking about the Tralfamadorians after the plane. And it's odd that every thing about the Tralfamadorians is from those good old Kilgore Trout novels. Now remember Billy first started to read Trout's novels when he committed himself, this was second time he was in the nut house it was after the war. The whole notion of time, the

It’s chilly tonight, the crisp autumn air blew the leaves in circles around my feet. It always fascinated me how trees lose their leaves, only to have them grow back. My strides are long and the wind blows my dress. I prefer summer nights, the air is warmer. I am pulled out of my trance when I hear the soft crunch of foliage behind me. I turn around to see a man wearing a fireman’s suit. I see firemen walking home each night, the same solemn look on their face. The same story every day, wake up, burn books, sleep, all on repeat. But something was different. He stood staring, was he studying me? He looked as if he was trying to speak, but he couldn't. Eventually, he said, “You’re our new neighbor girl, aren't you?”

Roxie was sore from all the running she did, and she decided to lay down. Nick had a blazing fire that he was cooking the fish on. Nick ate leftover berries and salmon again. They knew they had made it through this day. The night was long and bitter, which made it hard to sleep. The fire started to die down slowly until only the coals were burning. After a while, both of them drifted off into a deep sleep. Little did they know the next day would affect them for the rest of their lives.