“The Illusion of Death” by Arelin Chavez and Ashley Yuriar

No one knew him

He walked like death himself

Fading in, fading out

With no one next to him

No one to hold him

No one who could need him

He cared for no one but himself

Feared nothing but himself

He visited death multiple times

No one knew

No one cared

Why would they?

They knew nothing of him?

Yet they feared him?

Why?

“I, Billy Pilgrim, the tape begins, will die, have died, and always will die on February thirteen, 1976" (141)

Billy Pilgrim’s death is an illusion because no matter how many times he dies he will never really die. The meaning behind will, have, and always will die is the fact that he knows he will never be able to avoid his recurring death. He has said that he will die many times, he even said it to a crowd of people who denied it. Only to be proven wrong when he dropped dead.

“Somewhere in there the poor old high school teacher, Edgar Derby, was caught with a teapot he had taken from the catacombs. He was arrested for plundering. He war tried and shot. So it goes" (214).

“The two scouts who had ditched Billy and Weary had just been shot. They had been lying in ambush for Germans. They had been discovered and shot from behind. Now they are dying in the snow, feeling nothing, turning the snow to the color of raspberry sherbet. So it goes" (54).

“Poor Valencia was unconscious, overcome by carbon monoxide. She was a heavenly azure. One hour later she was a heavenly azure. One hour later she was dead. So it goes" (183).

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