Entry #1: An Allusion

CHAPTER 1:

“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.” (page 22)  Kurt Vonnegut uses the allusion of a “pillar of salt” to set the tone for the rest of the novel. 

“A pillar of salt” alludes to the Old Testament story of Lot’s wife being turned into a pillar of salt after she disobeyed God and looked back upon His destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Lot’s wife symbolizes that humans should not look back on his or her sins, for one cannot move forward on the path of righteousness if one is focusing the past.

Depiction of Lot and his wife fleeing Sodom and Gomorrah.

 Vonnegut compares himself to Lot’s wife, looking back upon the destruction of Dresden.  Instead of forgetting his horrible experiences and moving on with his life, he is focusing on the past.  The past, which damaged and scarred a society that has just begun to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives and is still mourning the loss of their loved ones.  Vonnegut recognizes that his story is to be a failure, because he is not bringing hope to a nation that is wanting to move onto a better future, like that of Lot and his family.  Instead, Vonnegut is like Lot’s wife, the only one who looks back at the horror and remembers it.  He sets a tone of despair for the rest of the novel to follow.