Fate?

While reading about Valencia’s fender bender, one notices that Vonnegut emphasis on the aftermath and damage done to the car. The in death detailing symbolizes a numerous amount of different ideas. For instant, the other car happens to be a Mercedes, which is a German made car, thus instantly connects the accident to the war. The Mercedes only lost a headlight due to the abrupt hit; however, Valencia’s car had a huge gaping truck that “looked like the mouth of a village idiot who was explaining he didn’t know anything about anything.” This represents how Billy appears to the world. Billy is always trying to explain to the world that the tralfamadorians taught him how to travel through time; Billy claims that he has seen his death numerous, which leads one to believe that Vonnegut does not believe in free will. The next important detail is the Ronald Reagan bumper sticker. In World War II, Billy was fighting against the same things that Ronald Reagan did in the Cold War, communism. This detail helps connect the rest of the details as effects to Billy. For example, after the muffler falls off, Valencia drives off, leaving it lying on the pavement. This prominently describes how Billy is disconnected with the world and time. It seems as if Billy has fallen off the deep end, causing him to appear completely insane to the rest of the world. The muffler makes the car sound like a “heavy bomber,” which reconnects the car to the war once again. Wars usually end in uncountable number of deaths. The car is a metaphor that Valencia’s life is going to end unenviable, in a similar way that many of the Jews died, from carbon monoxide poisoning. According to Vonnegut, it was Valencia’s fate to die from the car accident, although the wreck was a simple fender bender, it ended in a tragic death. Valencia could have caused her fate by her free will because she was hysterical from everything that had just happened. If she had not missed her turn and slammed on her brakes, than she never would have gotten into the accident that led to her death. If someone question Billy wither he believed in fate of free will, he would say fate because the tralfamadorians had shown him how to travel around in time and see what is going to happen in the future. The details from the car accident can lead to several other opinions and connections throughout the book.