Slaughter House Five

Slaughterhouse Five is a satirical novel by Kurt Vonnegut about World War II. The main character of the book is a disoriented and ill-trained American soldier called Billy Pilgrim, who has unstuck in time and experiences the past and future out of sequence.

By the description of what Billy sees during his trip, Vonnegut shows the brutality and coldness to the reader vividly. So, when the war outbreaks, the war is just a war. There is no way to identify what is justice or evilness, humbleness or nobleness. Both side of the war is just following the footsteps of the time, facing the incendiary bombs, concentration camps, he soap made from the body grease, and the death. One thing I noticed in the book was the repetition of "So it goes". All the sad things  in the novel, including Billy's pensioner period, the Dresden Bombing, plane crash of his father-in-law, wife's death, were concluded by "So it goes". Does it really go that easily? No, the author uses black humor to reflect how terrible the war is.

Taoism

Taoism refers to a philosophy or religious tradition in China, which emphasizes living in harmony with the Tao. The keystone work of literature in Taoism is the Tao Te Ching, which was written around the 6th century BC by the sage Laozi. Tao Te Ching has 81 short poems, and the poems are ambiguous, and topics range from political advice for ruler to practical wisdom for people. However, whatever the topics are, they all present the idea of Tao.

Literally, Tao means " Way", but was extended to mean "the way", where it implies the essential, unnameable process of universe. As a Chinese student, I am especially fond of the idea of "Emptiness" or "Nothing". It is not only because that idea strongly distincts from the Western Countries', but also because it enlightens me to see the world from a different perspective. In Tao Te Ching, Laozi indicates the importance of nothingness. As the book says, "We put thirty spokes together and call it a wheel; But it is on the space where there is nothing that the usefulness of the wheel depends. We turn clay to make a vessel; But it is on the space where there is nothing that the usefulness of the vessel depends." Obviously, we achieve something from nothing, and nothingness is the original power of everything. Therefore, as we take advantage of what is, we have to understand the usefulness of what is not.