Song of the Sirens

Well, I just finished The Sirens of Titan and I really enjoyed it.  However, for some reason, I feel that I’m going to have to consume a significant amount of alcohol before attempting to make sense of what it all means.

So is Vonnegut saying that the meaning of life is for us to be used by others, and that is really the only way for us to have purpose?  And so the sirens of Titan – do they stand for the hopelessly unfulfilling things that drive us as human beings?  The things that compel us to get up in the morning, but which ultimately either a) are never going to happen anyways or b) aren’t going to make us happy even if they do happen.

You know, like the possibility of a soul mate or maybe a decent non-dairy butter substitute….

Goddamn.  I’m all out of witty intelligent things to say.  I got nothin’ tonight.  Nothin!

Oh, wait, duh!!!!  I just made the connection between the sirens, the long painful journey of Malachi Constant – Homer’s Odyssey!  Wasn’t there a cyclops?  Like Beatrice Rumsfoord being blinded in one eye?  Well, and she’s kind of like the long-suffering wife, Penelope, isn’t she?  Damn, I wish I could remember a little more of it – I read it back in college.

Hmm, okay – well, I’ve decided my last book of the summer – a re-reading of Homer’s The Odyssey!!!

Samara

Samara goes outside of her comfort zone

So I’m about halfway done with The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut.  I have to say when I first started this book, I was very skeptical of the prospects of me enjoying it.  I would say that books that involve shallow rich people being enslaved on Mars to become part of a mindless robotic army destined to attack Earth are typically not my cup of tea.

However, apparently I’m growing as a person (or at least as a reader) because I’m actually quite enjoying this book.   At the moment, I’m not totally sure what the message Vonnegut is trying to get through here, but the book seems very much anti-war.  I know that Vonnegut was in World War II and his experience during the firebombing of Dresden had a huge impact on his world view and permeates much of his work (I remember that from Slaughterhouse 5 too.)  And I have a feeling he wasn’t too enamored with the whole experience of serving in the military just from what I’ve read here.

Anyways, I have no idea how it’s going to end up, but that’s kind of why I like it.

A snippet that I just read that I like:

There is no reason why good cannot triumph as often as evil.  The triumph of anything is a matter of organization.  If there are such things as angels, I hope that they are organized along the lines of the Maffia.