The way I see it, the motif can be interpreted one of two ways. One can either see it as the assurance of impending negativity to come because of the dog barking as a response to a newly discovered challenge, or as the idea that despite hardships, somewhere out there dogs are barking, symbolizing the fact that life goes on. Either way, Vonnegut is using the symbol of a dog barking to signify that life does have its hardships, whether it's delivering newspapers or being abducted by aliens; but the common factor between the two is that life always goes on.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Entry #15: Motif
"So it goes" would be an excellent, yet generic motif to write this entry about, so I'm going to be a little different. The sentence "Somewhere a dog barked." is used multiple times throughout the book, most recently in chapter eight. A motif is described as a recurring image, word, phrase, action, idea, object, or situation used throughout a work, unifying the current situation to previous ones, or new ideas to a theme."Somewhere a dog barked" makes its appearance in the novel for the third or fourth time in chapter eight, and each of the times this sentence is used, it is during an event in which a character faces a hardship or difficult situation. In this particular instance, Kilgore Trout is found faced with the dilemma of delivering newspapers. Not only that, but the sentence "Somewhere a dog barked" is used right after Trout admits to a fear of dogs.
The way I see it, the motif can be interpreted one of two ways. One can either see it as the assurance of impending negativity to come because of the dog barking as a response to a newly discovered challenge, or as the idea that despite hardships, somewhere out there dogs are barking, symbolizing the fact that life goes on. Either way, Vonnegut is using the symbol of a dog barking to signify that life does have its hardships, whether it's delivering newspapers or being abducted by aliens; but the common factor between the two is that life always goes on.
The way I see it, the motif can be interpreted one of two ways. One can either see it as the assurance of impending negativity to come because of the dog barking as a response to a newly discovered challenge, or as the idea that despite hardships, somewhere out there dogs are barking, symbolizing the fact that life goes on. Either way, Vonnegut is using the symbol of a dog barking to signify that life does have its hardships, whether it's delivering newspapers or being abducted by aliens; but the common factor between the two is that life always goes on.
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I interpreted the dog motif as a new hardship, the first of the two ways to interpret it. Since you brought up a second way to interpret the motif, I can make a connection between the dog and the Tralfamadorian philosophy, and their use of the phrase "So it goes."
ReplyDeleteI like that you noticed the recurring phrase "Somewhere a dog barked". Before reading your blog I would not have picked up on the significance of the quote. I have reevaluated what it may mean to the story or its deeper meaning. I agree with your inference that it symbolizes negativity. Do you think Vonnegut might have had another reason for it. The action is so abstract that it is hard to really answer. Possibly it could have been a way to pull you away from the plot of the story but no one can be for sure.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that you used this motif instead of the famous "so it goes." In all honesty, I did not see that quote, but it is an excellent example of a motif. :D
ReplyDeletehow about emphasizing futility?
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