Summary
It is 1968. Robert Kennedy and
Martin Luther King, Jr. are both dead, assassinated within a month
of one another. Body counts from the jungle war in Vietnam fill
the evening news.
According to Billy, Tralfamadorians are more interested
in Darwin than in Jesus Christ. They admire the Darwinian view that death
serves a function and that “corpses are improvements.” A Kilgore
Trout book, The Big Board, features aliens who
capture an earthling and ask him about Darwin and golf.
Vonnegut tells us that he is not overjoyed if what Billy
learned from the Tralfamadorians about eternal existence is true.
Still, he is grateful for all the pleasant times experienced in
his life. Vonnegut recalls one of those moments—his return to Dresden
with his war buddy O’Hare. On the plane, the men eat salami sandwiches
and drink white wine, and the author’s friend shows him a book that claims
the world population will reach seven billion by the year 2000.
“I suppose they will all want dignity,” Vonnegut remarks.
Billy is also back in Dresden, two days after the war,
digging for bodies. Vonnegut and O’Hare are there too. After spending
two nights in the stable, the prisoners are put to work excavating
the ruins of Dresden, where they discover innumerable “corpse mines.” The
bodies rot faster than they can be removed, making for a grisly cleanup
job. One prisoner, a Maori, dies of the dry heaves. Eventually,
as the pace of putrefaction outstrips the recovery efforts, the authorities
adopt a new policy. The bodies are cremated where they lie in subterranean
caverns. The soldiers use flamethrowers to carry out this grim task.
During the course of the excavations, while the men are
still under German command, Edgar Derby is discovered with a teapot found
in the ruins. He is arrested and convicted of plundering, then executed
by firing squad.
Soon it is spring, and the Germans disappear to fight
or flee the Russians. The war ends. Trees sprout leaves. Billy finds
the horses and the green, coffin-shaped wagon. A bird says to him, “Poo-tee-weet?”
