#7 Hunter Warren

Why does Vonnegut say, at the end of chapter 1, that this book was written by a pillar of salt? Why is that meaningful?

In Genesis 19 in the Bible, God plans to demolish the five cities of the plain, which is where Lot and his family lived. In order to help save the family, God sends angels to the gates of the city where they are met by Lot. After much encouragement the angels stay in the city and reside in Lot’s house for the night. The people of the city wanted to know the reasons for the angels being at Lot’s house, so the angels encourage the family to leave because of what great catastrophe may happen. The son-in-laws take no warning and Lot resides at the house. As the angels take the women away they say, “Save yourselves with all haste. Look not behind you. Get as fast as you are able to the mountain, unless you be involved in the calamity of the city.” As the women leave, Lot’s wife looks backs on Sodom (the city), and is turned into a pillar of salt.

The story of Lot and Vonnegut are very similar in the way their stories are portrayed. In the book, Yon becomes an alcoholic after the war because he looks back on the horrible atrocities that he came in contact with during it. In the story from Genesis 19, the wife looks back on the city of Sodom after she was warned not too. Because of this she was turned into a pillar of salt. I feel as though Yon and Lot’s wife coincide with each other because they both look back on something they knew would hurt them, but they do it anyways. This is very meaningful because Vonnegut is able to relate a character’s experience to an important story of the bible, which shows great meaning. Yon is basically lowered to a pillar of salt because of the troubles that he faces in his life because he looks back on the war. Although he knows that he shouldn’t dwell on the past, he does, and this is what hurts him in the end. Vonnegut is able to imply a very meaningful message in his book by relating a character’s war experience to a story of the Bible.