Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Chapter 2- Foil character
Throughout the second chapter Vonnegut emphasizes the differences between Billy Pilgrim and Roland Weary. Throughout the chapter we see that Weary is the foil character to Billy Pilgrim. Vonnegut says that " Weary has every piece of equipment he has ever been issued; every present he has received from home: helmet, helmet liner, wool cap, scarf gloves,. . .trench knife, shelter half, blanket, bulletproof bible, and multiple pamphlets." This contrasts to Billy as Vonnegut says "Billy wearing a thin field jacket, a shirt and trousers of scratchy wool, and long underwear that was soaked with sweat . . .He didn't look like a soldier at all. He looked like a filthy flamingo." Through these quotes Vonnegut shows the differences of the two soldiers. Weary has everything that a soldier needs: weapons, camouflage clothing, and shelter. Billy has nothing that a soldier needs. He does not have any weapons, shelter, or special clothing. Throughout the second chapter, Roland Weary becomes the perfect foil character of Billy Pilgrim.
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I agree that Roland Weary is a foil character to Billy Pilgrim because Vonnegut describes them as almost the exact opposite of each other. Another way that those two characters are different is that Roland Weary wanted to keep going and avoid being caught while Billy Pilgrim did not care if he was caught he just wanted to be left behind. In addition to these two characters being foil characters, we also see some irony because even though Roland Weary had more resources when he went to war, he died before Billy.
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