Serenity, Courage, Wisdom

Through Billy Pilgrim’s life, he has experienced so many things to learn from and has gotten so many advices from many people. Like if fighting in World War II wasn’t leaving a mark or teaching you something. Going through this experience definitely changes a person, even makes some people become crazy since they can’t cope with the tragedy and the suffering the witnessed. Billy Pilgrim gives us two very interesting advices and lessons in chapter 9. “Later in his life, the Trafamaldorians would advise Billy to concentrate on the happy moments of his life, and to ignore the unhappy ones—to stare only at the pretty things as eternity failed to go by.” Pg 194-195. This is one thing that is pretty true, and it’s a valid advice for people to take into account. This is one thing that Billy should definitely go by after experiencing the war and experiencing Dresden. He also had many harsh moments like the plane crash and losing his wife, for example.
Another thing that definitely caches your attention, it is actually impossible for it not to get your attention since it takes up a whole page. It is the chain Montana had on which said, “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.” Pg 209. This is a very, very powerful quote. I had heard it before and knew it had a very strong meaning but after reading it in the book I actually got to think about it a lot. I believe that Vonnegut probably says this in reference to the war and to writing the book. Actually writing a war book goes perfectly with the quote. He has the serenity to accept he can’t change the war or what happen but has the wisdom to tell that by writing a book and saying his experiences about what happened to him he can help that history doesn’t repeat itself.