Chapter Nine: Cold Feet

    Motif is a recurring image, word phrase, action, idea, object, or situation used throughout a work. I notice a reoccurring word during chapter nine: blue. In chapter four, Vonnegut describes Billy Pilgrims feet, "He look down at his bare feet. They were ivory and blue" (72). In chapter six, Vonnegut writes about the dead hobo in the car, "His bare feet were blue and ivory. It was all right, somehow, his being dead. So it goes" (148). Finally in chapter nine, Vonnegut describes Valencia's body color, "Poor Valencia was unconscious, overcome by carbon monoxide. She was a heavenly azure" (183). Vonnegut connects coldness and death with the color blue. Blue is associated with calmness and tranquility. Blue is also used to connect body and mind. I understand why Vonnegut used blue to represent death. Since blue is used to associated equanimity, Vonnegut used blue to represent death because the Tralfamadorians believed, "When a Tralfamadorian sees a corpse, all he thinks is that the dead person is in a bad condition in that particular moment, but that the same person is just fine in plenty of other moments" (27). Tralfamadorians are calm when it comes to death, which explains their slogan, "So it goes."