On page 60, it talks about the prayer framed on Billy's office wall. The prayer asked God to helped him tell the difference between what he can and cannot change. "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom always to tell the difference".

 I think this has something to do with the very first sentence of the book- "All of this happened, more or less". My thoughts are, the reason for writing about things that he knows aren't true are his way of  changing what he can like the prayer says to do. Perhaps this prayer was the cause for why the book as written the way it was. what do you think the importance of putting the prayer in the book was? And do you also think it was the reason for the structure of the book?

Almost immediately in the first and second chapter we noticed that the timeline of Slaughter House Five, by Kurt Vonnegut, is very jumbled up. While the narrator, Yon Yonson, is telling the story of Billy Pilgrim, the stories told come in a very unorganized manner. On one page Billy could be hiding from German soldiers, but on the next page he could be back in college. Most of the stories Billy jumps around to connect back to the Tralfamadorians' way of life, or the concept of time travel.

I think that during and after the war "Billy" made up the idea of these Tralfamadorians to cope with what he witnessed in Dresden. Do you think that Billy will explain more about how he thought of these Tralfamadorians and why? Do you think that Billy came up with these creatures for the same reason I do?

Example Posts - Meets and Exceeds

The following are two posts that may serve as models for your own. These posts use The Grapes of Wrath as the considered text, but the requirements are the same. The first is an example of a post that MEETS the standard; the second is an example that EXCEEDS the standard.

Meets:

It became apparent in chapter 5 that the narrative of the Joad family is only one perspective of the struggles people faced in the 1930s. The use of racial slurs and culturally insensitive language reminds us that the Joads, although they are a poor family lacking many basic resources, they do have the privilege of being white. The use of the word "nigger" and the highly insensitive way of speaking about Native Americans remind us that whiteness was a privilege that could elevate the status of even the most desperate farmer.

I wonder how this theme of race and culture will continue to develop over the course of the novel. What will the presence of race and racism continue to teach us about the social fabric of the U.S. in the '30s?

Exceeds:

The description of the land in Chapter 5 tells us a lot about the tensions arising out of the industrialization of farming. The physical connection to the land is broken, and this seems to lead to a bigger gap that transcends the physical.

In chapter 5, we learn that the tractor driver "could not see the land as it was, he could not smell the land as it smelled; his feet did not stamp the clods or feel the warmth and power of the earth...Men ate what they had not raised, had no connection with the bread. The land bore under iron, and under iron gradually died; for it was not loved or hated, it had no prayers or curses" (35, 36).

Humans are being replaced by machines, and these machines will never love and appreciate the land (and what the land provides) as much as the humans who farmed it with their own hands. I am curious to see how this theme continues to play out in the novel - will the divide between the human and the machine continue to grow, and will it cause the farmers' struggle to become increasingly bitter and devastating?

Notes:

• Please consider your grammar and spelling. These posts should be thoughtful and well-crafted. 
• As you can see, the posts need not be long. A few sentences, or a small paragraph or two is sufficient. Remember - quality over quantity! 
• Please title your post purposefully - your title should help give a heads-up about the content of your post.