"Nothing happens when you die"

To begin, everyone has experienced that awkward moment of fright when the person around you sneezes exceptionally loud. In that moment, one becomes very embarrassed from jumping out of fear and for the person who was experiencing the sneeze. Dane Cook uses a memory and visual technique to describe the debris that is flying out of this person’s nose. He uses a Windex sprayer to describe how the sneeze appeared to him. This relates and refreshes the memory of someone sneezing on or near you; the feeling of wetness from the sneeze feels as if someone has drenched you with a Windex bottle. Whenever someone sneezes, naturally we reply God bless you. However, in some cases, like this one, the person who sneezed appears offended by the statement. Nevertheless, we have our freedom of speech and we say this out of kindness and not out of trying to offend someone. Personally, I have never encountered someone who smarted of and became offended by it; I usually get a polite thank you in return. For Christians, or anyone in that matter, whenever someone sneezes, the polite thing to do is say God bless you. People who do not believe in God have the same rights as people who do believe in God, however, I do not agree with them boldly flaunting as if they are proud of it and do it out of hatefulness and wanting to enrage others. I know there are numerous religions, and almost all of them have some form of God, but those that do not, make it hard for me to relate with them. If you are not living for God, then whom are you living for? Yourself perhaps, but what is the point in that? What happens to you after this life? Does your soul just disappear, or do you even have a soul at all? People who do not believe in some form of God, I lose a lot of respect for, because that is disrespectful to God. It is hard for me to see eye to eye with someone who believes there is no God, the debates and disagreements are endless, there is never a middle point. It is hard to endure someone laughing at our beliefs when their own beliefs are ridiculous and incomprehensible. Dane’s way to end the religious dispute is classic, after the man becomes a tree, he tells the man that he hopes he is copped down and turned into paper that the Bible becomes printed on.

The Movies

In Dane Cook’s vicious cycle, the movie scene is one that everyone can relate too; everyone has experienced the something similar to his description of going to the movies. Around here, everyone can relate to going to look and see what movies are playing online, then the movies become like an adventure more than just going to the movies. The entire time, Dane Cook is moving around or acting out parts, which brings several emotions and triggers the memory in a visual way and in words. Every girl can relate to being asked if you want any snacks, or “treats” as Dane Cook calls them, the response is almost always umm no. Dane’s body movement during this scene is identical to how most girls react when asked that question. He might over emphases on the movement, but it still relates to how we react and how awkward it can appear. Once you get into the theater, there is always that debate over where to sit. The way Dane runs on the stage, gives him like a childish, playful appearance. After getting settled in the seats, this always happens, the sudden urge to want some “treats” take over. As Dane changes his voice to imitate how the girls begin to sound, like a childish mumbling voice. The facial expression he has on his face, the embarrassed, self-conscious one. One of the best parts in the entire movie scene is when he is passing by the people in the rows. He demonstrates how uncomfortable it is to pass by people sitting, no matter who you are, everyone has experienced that feeling at least once. However, my favorite part is the movie previews. For the “one time in all of our life, we get to be a critic,” we all judge how the movie is going to be by this one preview. His movie previews become realistic by creating sound effects, from which the entire crowd can understand it is an action movie and sounds exciting. Everyone does the same thing, deciding whither or not that movie is worth seeing, based on this one preview. Dane Cook gets the crowd evolved by relating the humor to everyday situations that everyone has experienced at least once. He not only brings up familiar memories and feelings, but also demonstrates them on stage. This takes the funniness to an entirely different level.

Whhen Lies Become the Truth

In the past, social status was everything, people in the upper class could get away with anything; they could pay the lie of with money, or in some cases, such as the play “The Importance of Being Earnest,” be accepted for their lies. During this play, it seems apparent that the women expect the men to lie and this is something they have to deal with and accept. For Jack, his lies ended up as the truth, but then he lied about knowing that he knew he had a brother this entire time. However, Jack actually contradicts himself about having a brother, in the conversation right before talking with Aunt Augusta, he proclaimed to Algernon, “I have no brother, that I never had a brother, and that I don't intend to have a brother, not even of any kind. I distinctly told him so myself yesterday afternoon." In today’s society, people would have a hard time trusting Jack after this statement and then behaving as he does later, however, the women during this time seem to thrive on drama. The women in this play seem infatuated with the name Earnest, however, the name Earnest does not necessarily mean that whoever the man is will truly be Earnest. Earnest does not mean honesty, its real meaning is deep sincerity, which anyone can be sincere while lying. The both the women claim that they could not love these two men if they had different names; the name is everything to them. Perhaps for women of that time in the upper class did not care much about how their men behaved, therefore idolizing their names, because it was the only truth they knew, however, this was not the case in this play. The men during this play would say what was on their mind and then quickly cover it up by saying what they actually meant to say. For instance, when Jack is asking Gwendolen to marry him, he slips and says “I must get christened at once,” and Gwendolen acts as she never heard his slip and just ignores it like the rest of his lies. People in the upper class had an unusual way of living their lives, several of their ideals are not morally correct with today’s standards. For example, if a woman caught her future husband in a simple lie such as his name, she would deny him the marriage. This just shows how little input the women had back then and how their “proper” way had turned them almost senseless.

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.

A Candy Bar, Really?

Throughout Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut uses several metaphors to describe objects that remind him of war. For example, when the woman in his office was munching on a Three Musketeers Candy Bar while questioning him about what the “squashed guy looked like when he was squashed.” At first, this statement seems irrelevant and random like the rest of chapter one. However, if one looks at it the way Vonnegut intended it, then the situation enters a completely different perspective. Although death for most people is depressing, for Vonnegut, it is an everyday thing that no one can avoid. After loved ones die, all he can say is so it goes. This makes one think that Vonnegut knows death happens and no one can stop it, so why get depressed over it. Vonnegut almost seems numb when it comes to death, perhaps it is easier for him to almost ignore it seem he had to experience so much during the war. Vonnegut had different opinion on death, during chapter two, the answer to death becomes apparent to Billy. After tralfamadores abduct Billy Pilgrim, he feels that death is nothing to feel and that it is just something that happens. Billy claims that the tralfamadorians see a corpse “that the dead person is in a bad condition in that particular moment.” Death is nothing to fear because it happens to everyone, but for some, it happens to be very horrific. On the other hand, one can also take it has a metaphor for “The Three Musketeers” that Billy encountered during the war. To me, Vonnegut used the women in the office eating the Three Musketeer Candy Bar in two different ways. One way is to show that death does not affect some people, such as that woman from his office, because she continue to munch on her candy bar as she asked for the gruesome details about the squashed man. The other way is foreshadowing the group of people that Billy meets in the war. The Three Musketeers play a major role in keeping Billy alive. Regardless if the Three Musketeer Candy Bar has anything to do with the heroes later in the story or not, somehow I felt the two had a connection.

Rubber Ducky

When people hear the words “sex with ducks,” they suddenly become appalled at the thought of anyone doing that with ducks. For many people, they feel the same way about gay marriage; they almost consider it as bad as sex with ducks. People can express their feelings towards gays in many artful ways, such as this song. This song allows people to expose their position on gays in a semi offensive, yet still witty way. Sex with ducks provides a metaphor that some people feel that if we legalize gay marriage than why not legalize having sex with ducks too. In some people’s eyes, they are equally unethical. Throughout the song, the phase sex with duck is associated with the politically incorrect gay situation. This song portrays that if gay marriage is actually legalized one day, than “the need to legalize sex with ducks” is relevant. Everyone opposes people having sex with animals because it is morally wrong. Some of the lyrics in this song propose that “sex with ducks and gay marriage are one in the same.” Instead of people, repeating the same gay marriage is immoral, people can view gay marriage in a less boring, by comparing it to sex with ducks. It removes the repetition of hearing the say words repeatedly until they are dull. On the other hand, the song “Sex with ducks” makes people who are gay sound like horrible people who have no respect for themselves or morals. Even though this song completely hates on gays, even if someone is gay, he or she would probably still laugh that how people view their differences. The song just allows people to express their feelings, just as gays can express their feelings, they just cannot prove it. In the end, sex with ducks has a nice pun on the meaning, by comparing it to gays, if gays are allowed to proclaim their love publicly, than “legally [they can] do something awful.”

What started as innocent fun ended in cruelty

When reading the book, one might not understand the unusual relationship between Miss. Bates and Emma. While reading, it is hard to comprehend the offensiveness Miss. Bates feels from Emma’s vulgar statement, "Ah! ma'am, but there may be a difficulty. Pardon me—but you will be limited as to number—only three at once.” Throughout the reading, one knows that it is suppose to be offensive, but it is hard to picture the awkwardness. However, the movie clip portrays the awkwardness and tension felt between Miss. Bates and Emma shortly after the comment. In the film, one can visually see how Miss. Bates reacted to the statement. From the stun, she does not know how to react, so instead she just stutters. Emma thought her comment was funny an appropriate given the situation, but she quickly learns that she was mistaken. Emma’s reaction is similar to Kant’s quote, “Laughter is the eruption of the emotion that arises from the strained expectation suddenly reduced to nothing.” What Emma perceived as funny, ended up not only displeasing Miss. Bates, but also the entire group. Emma felt that she could not she could not resist on such an opportunity to get the attention back on her. Perhaps she thought she joke would appear as wit, but instead it made everyone lose respect for her. To Emma, her moment in glory turned was “suddenly reduced to nothing.” Emma took advantage of the situation with Miss. Bates, with her being an older lady, lower in class and already unsure of herself. The unpleasant situation also reflects Hobbes quote by keeping “themselves in their own favour by observing the imperfections of others.” As I said before, Emma wanted the attention to remain on her, thus in her desperation, she made a cruel and unacceptable comment about Miss. Bates. According to Emma, everything Miss. Bates has to say is boring, but how could she contain her boringness to only three words amazed Emma. When Mr. Knightly comforted her about her offensive remark, Emma simply replied, “how could I help saying what I did?”

The hidden secret within laugher

Thomas Hobbes statement might come off as offensive because of the word choice. When people think of the word deformed, they automatically think of major deformities, rather than small and common deformities that Hobbes is describing. Throughout his quote, it seems as if Hobbes is implying that laugher only comes from “the apprehension of some deformed thing in another, by comparison whereof they suddenly applaud themselves.” Although most people do not associate laugher with evil, some of the time we do laugh out of pure meanness. People mainly laugh at others because they “are conscious of the fewest abilities in themselves.” For instance, remember being a child and other students made fun of you because you wore glasses or had braces or always being chosen last for a team. All of these problems can seem like deformities, even though children cannot change how they are, somehow as children we find making fun of them pleasurable. As we get older, we no longer look at glasses as funny; instead, we poke fun at other aspects. Hobbes knows that we are human and laugh at each other, but I do not think that we always laugh at others imperfections. It is hard for us to admit our own imperfections, so in return, we end up laughing at others flaws, but in reality, we actually end up laughing at ourselves for comparing ourselves to others. I agree with Hobbes, laugher is often associated by laughing at another’s failure and flaws, to make them feel better about themselves. On the other hand, Hobbes points out that laughter is sometimes caused “by some sudden act of their own that pleaseth them.” By this, I think he meant that we could find things that are funny without offending others. Laughter starts a number of different ways, wither it be from jealousy or something else, laughter always makes one feel better.