Chapter 9: Imagery

             I feel as if Vonnegut used imagery throughout this chapter; however, the one time it jumped out at me was when Billy’s wife, Valencia, learned that Billy had been in a plane crash. Valencia was hysterical because the doctors only told her that Billy might die, and if he does like he was going to be a vegetable. Due to the fact that Valencia was hysterical, she missed the correct turn-off. Valencia was already not thinking straight and just reacted by instinct and slammed on her breaks and the Mercedes that was following her slammed into her from behind. The imagery Vonnegut displays is the description that Valencia’s car is in, “The Mercedes lost only a headlight. But the rear end of the Cadillac was a body-and-fender man’s wet dream. The trunk and fenders were collapsed. The gaping trunk looked like the mouth of a village idiot who was explaining that he didn’t know anything about anything. The fenders shrugged. The bumper was at a high port arms…The back window was veined with cracks. The exhaust system rested on the pavement” (Vonnegut 183). If Vonnegut did not give me, the reader this imagery of the Cadillac, I would have never known how serious it would be if Valencia would drive that car. I would have just thought it was a fender-bender and no big worries would be been placed in my mind; however, it turned out to be very serious and the car was probably totaled. Through Vonnegut’s imagery I was able to depict the fact that the car should have never been driven again and that with the exhaust system lying on the pavement, there is extreme harm to come. Due to the exhaust system Valencia lost her life and was unable to reunite with Billy Pilgrim. “So it goes.”