Monday, October 13, 2008
Billy Cries
In chapter 9, right after the war ended, Billy and some others were traveling back to the slaughterhouse to get souvenirs. They were being taken in a horse drawn carriage and the horses were in bad shape. Why do you think Billy started to cry when he had to get out to look at the horses conditions? The book said that he didn't cry about anything else in the war, so why would he cry about the horses?
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I find it weird that he cried about the conditions the horses where in. He had seen men do the most awful things to other men, and simply responded “so it goes”. Then suddenly it’s brought to his attention that they were miss treating innocent horses. He starts bawling not just squirting a few tears, all out bawling. He never seems to be a violent person, even when struck he would never strike back. He didn’t even feel it was necessary to carry a weapon during the war, just did it to please others. So maybe when he realized he was mistreating a living creature he felt great remorse, and I think maybe that was why he cried. He said he cried only very few times in his life, but I have little recollection of him ever mentioning harming anyone or anything.
I think he reacted to way he did because it was more animal cruelty and animals can't even begin to be able to deffend themseleves and be understood. I think just the fact that the horses were being mistreated was why he cried the way he did. Or maybe it had to do with one of those melt downs of his.
I maybe being to simplistic with my answer, but I think his reaction was due to stress and relief. I can relate to this. When in times of extreme stress or chaos people tend to do a really good job of holding everything together in all aspects including emotions. It isn't until the dust settles and you are able to evaluate what has happened that you truly are able to grasp the reality of what has happened. Or sometimes you just haven't allowed yourself the time to feel the emotion of what has happened. I believe this is the case with Billy and the horses.
I agree with what Cassie said. Maybe the horses were a sort of "wake up call" for Billie. The horses’ mouths were cut up, their shoes were broken, and they were nearly dying of thirst when the couple found the carriage. I think that Billy was reminded of the inhumane treatment he received during the war. The animal’s state reminded him of his own. He was broken, humiliated and treated like an animal during the war. The crying was a way of releasing all that had happened to him..
out of empathy maybe. maybe he could relate to their suffering and felt bad.
Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that horses don't cause or participate in wars, yet these horses were victims....
People are made differenly where they feel very bad about somhing that is really happen to other than themselves. I think Billy cried becuase poor horse were thirty. I think for the animals then he did for himself.
Billy had just woke up from a blissful nap to awareness that he had contributed to the pain and suffering of the horses and was not even aware of the condition they were in. The horses are suffering needlessly, like the innocents of war, unnoticed by those who are closest and most involved.
I think it's because he realized that the horses had no way around what they had to go through. There were people fighting all around them and no one even cared about what happened to the them.
I also agree with what cassie said.Maybe he was holding it all back and it just all spilled out.He and many others were treated cruely in his days in the war and he had just become numb to all the pain he held. When he saw the horses being treated terribly maybe he just felt what they felt at a time, also because they are innocent animals that had nothing to do with the war and the events that took place. Maybe it just all hit him at once and it all over-flowed.
I think that a few people have good ideas. I first think AJ's point was good, he just woke up and realized he had contributed to this terrible thing, and like Hawks said there is no where else in the book where Billy talks or recalls when he himself had ever hurt anyone. This is supposed to be an antiwar book, so just the fact that he partook in anything like that probably hurt him. Plus like Cassie pointed out, the stress of everything he has gone through and seen probably made him reach his breaking point, like many would do in that situation.
I think he sees the way hes treating the horses in the same way he was treated as a pow. The hooves were cracked and the horses wouldnt walk due to pain unless they were forced. Billy felt the pain when he had to walk in the snow. He wouldnt want anyone to have gone through what he did and he unknowningly did that to these horses, when he realized this it all came back to him and he was overwhelmed with emotion.
Billy was having a great time sun bathing himself in the back of this carriage, he knew the horses were there and yet had not taken the time to even get out because he was having a great time...maybe he felt selfish for having a great time hiding there while the horses were suffering and he didn't even know it. Ofcourse, the horses are innocent creatures. War was made by people, so why bring animals into it and make them suffer. I think if he knew the horses were suffering, he would have done something sooner but he was caught up in having a quiet moment in war (which doesn't really happen, things keep moving in war) that he felt bad he didn't look out to see what was going on.
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