When Billy spoke about his interpretation of the Gospel, I was fascinated by his perception of its morals. The most obvious lesson in the New Testament, according to Billy, is one that most of us would never have thought about.
"Before you kill somebody, make absolutely sure he isn't well connected" (109).
This claim could be referring to an event in the New Testament, where Jesus was killed. Jesus was very well connected, and all of the people he knew and who knew of him were devastated when he was killed. Billy may see death as an act of pity, so that the connection-less person will cease to feel the pain of being alone. If an unconnected person dies, less people will mourn and feel sadness, so the "connections" of the person in question are also spared.
Billy's perspective is very ironic, because he himself is not very well connected. He has a terrible lack of friends, and many of those have deserted him or been killed. His father is dead and he doesn't have any genuine connections to his mother or his fiance. Do someone's connections dictate whether or not they should be killed? If so, could Billy be implying that he wishes he were dead?
I don't believe that a person's "connections" should dictate whether or not they are killed. What if a kind-hearted person was killed only because they were not well connected with the society around them, do they deserve to be killed? Should someone dark and cruel deserve to live because they have many friends? This is war, and I don't think that people stop to think about that when their own life is on the line. However, I don't think Billy quite understands that concept, because he doesn't seem as mature as the rest of the people around him. They protect him as if he's a small infant who can't fend for himself. While his thoughts may be ironic, I don't think he wishes he were dead, because death is a scary concept. But maybe he just wishes to stop the pain surrounding him, and death is an escape for that.
ReplyDeleteThinking of Billy as an immature child does make the idea of death much more frightening. He might be trying to say that it is a pity that people with lots of friends are killed, and the rest of them are less of an issue. Obviously, no one should be killed because of their social life (or lack thereof), and I think you are right in saying that Billy is just not "with it" enough to realize that. The war has damaged him beyond repair.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it's possible that's what Billy is really trying to say. It's harder on people when someone close to them dies, and maybe he just wants it all to stop. Do you think the war is to blame for Billy being 'out of it'?
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