Slaughterhouse Five - Discussion Questions

[Nick, Founder (In Absentia)]

Found this online and thought it may spur some discussion:

At the beginning of the novel, why does the writer-narrator compare himself to Lot's wife, who defied God by looking back at Sodom and for doing so was turned into a pillar of salt?

[Kristjan]

Discussion: Slaughterhouse Five

Nick said: At the beginning of the novel, why does the writer-narrator compare himself to Lot's wife, who defied God by looking back at Sodom and for doing so was turned into a pillar of salt?

Thank you for posting this ... I would not have given it a second look otherwise. I have been thinking about it quite alot and it seems to provide a key to understanding a good portion of the story.

And Lot's wife, of course, was told not to look back where all those people and their homes had been. But she did look back, and I love her for that, because it was so human.

She was turned to a pillar of salt. So it goes.

People aren't supposed to look back. I'm certainly not going to do it anymore.

I've finished my war book now. The next one I write is going to be fun. This one is a failure, and had to be, since it was written by a pillar of salt.

The simple answer: The writer-narrator compares himself to Lot's wife, is because he is doing something that he is not supposed to do ... looking back upon the tragedy (or massacre) that was Dresden, just like Lot's wife looked back upon the tragedy that was Sodom and Gomorrah.

A deeper analysis: I doubt the author intended all of this, given his antagonism toward religion, but I found a much deeper meaning to this exchange the more I thought about it. Given the context of the Sodom and Gomorrah story, salt was an extremely important preservative; in some societies, it was worth more then gold. So ... by looking back at the tragedy of Dresden, the narrator is ensuring that we can't turn and walk away (we can't forget) about it. In effect, the narrator is trying to save history by becoming a preservative (pillar of salt). Perhaps more important though, is the fact that he sees looking back as something that was prohibited (by G-d or society in general), in the face of which, he is also demonstrating his free-will ... his choice, even though doing so makes him less of a person (or part of a people/society) - it does make him more human.

[[deleted user]]

Kristjan: Excellent comments! Especially liked the "narrator is preserving history" angle. Very nice.

[Meghan]

That was a great comment Kristjan. Totally different from how I viewed it.

I saw it as that a pillar of salt has no feelings and if not packed down tightly, could blow away with the wind. I wondered if the author wasn't saying that by looking back on his time in Dresdan (and the war itself), he is as unfeeling and unemotional as salt (a mineral--the only rock we can eat). And if he isn't careful, he could be blown away into nothingness.

He knows it's better to look forward and see his life as it is now (away from war), but like Lot's wife, he couldn't resist looking back and was therefore, punished (for him, the assault of bad memories and painful images, leaving him void of his humanity).