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The Hundred Martyrs to Democracy
I finished Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut the other day. I unfortunately haven’t had a chance to write about it yet, but I thought I’d pop on to share this quote. This particular bit feels like a precursor for Slaughterhouse 5, which was written six years after. This comes from an American ambassador giving a speech to the fictional Caribbean nation San Lorenzo, memorializing the hundred soldiers they lost during the war. They became known as The Hundred Martyrs to Democracy (lo Hoon-yera Mora-toorz tut Zamoo-cratz-ya in the native tongue). “We are gathered here, friends,” he said, “to honor lo Hoon-yera Mora-toorz tut Zamoo-cratz-ya, children dead, all dead, all murdered…
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Perspective
I was recently reminded of my favourite bit from Slaughterhouse-Five, where Billy Pilgrim watches a war movie in reverse. It was a movie about American bombers in the Second World War and the gallant men who flew them. Seen backwards by Billy, the story went like this: American planes, full of holes and wounded men and corpses took off backwards from an airfield in England. Over France a few German fighter planes flew at them backwards, sucked bullets and shell fragments from some of the planes and crewmen. They did the same for wrecked American bombers on the ground, and those planes flew up backwards to join the formation. The…