Today in class we discussed the impact of “poor old” Edgar Derby standing up to Campbell
with his motivational speech, and its impact. In his “finest moment,” he stands up to
Campbell with a speech about american morals, and “spoke movingly about the American
form of government.” He also said there “wasn't a man there who wouldn't gladly die for
those ideals.” There are a few ironic moments that I want to expand on from class.
First, this book was published in 1969. This was only two years after the first well known
Napalm and Anti-War protests took hold in Madison, Wisconsin. The anti-war movement
was gaining storm, and the novel is just one manifestation of this movement. But for this
scene specifically, it calls on poor old Derby to carry the irony. Derby is the teacher who is
“too old to be fighting,” but he does it anyway out of his love for his country. “All of the real
soldiers are dead,” but Derby continues on. He loves his country, which is a funny idea to the
protestors reading this anti-war labeled novel.
Another part of this was how Vonnegut doesn't even write out the meaningful speech. I
felt at first like this was a critique at literature. Like, he talks to the reader about how “old
Derby was a character now.” And we’re like, wait, no other ‘character’ in this novel has felt
strongly about anything. We’re thrown in supposedly high action war scenarios, and Billy
just says “go ahead without me.” So I don’t really understand this critique, but maybe it’s
part of the whole weird storyline, flow of consciousness vibe of the book. The plot is set up as
a given, the ending is a given, it’s just how it happens that makes it readable. I like it, and it’s
hard to pinpoint what makes this part so interesting.
Another part is something we brought up in class. Derby’s speech is supposedly meaningful and moving and all that, but none of the men react really at all. So it brings to question, how moving can it be? It really pulls together the anti-war theme of the novel. No matter what Derby does, it shows the downside. To me, when I first read this passage, I first thought Derby was going to join Campbell and the Nazis. We noticed that whether Derby was or wasn't going to join the Nazis it would have a similar effect. It’s could be a patriotic teacher - who’s too old to fight who goes to war to fight for his country- who eventually gives up on everything he’s supposed to fight for a little bit of nourishment. This would show how the values and ideals of the soldiers are so broken down that they end up going to the other side. An anti-war message. If Derby stands up and gives a moving motivational speech to no avail and reaction, it has a similar outcome. It shows the lack of heart in the soldiers, and how it’s barely even their battle. They are tired and sipping on syrup all day long. These soldiers have lost. Not the battle, but their heart. Another anti-war message. So when Derby stood up, no matter what he says shows the anti-war purpose of the book.
These are just a few thoughts about Derby’s big speech and the importance of having a
character. I’m still kind of at a loss about the character thing, so if you have any thoughts
feel free to say something in the comments.
character. I’m still kind of at a loss about the character thing, so if you have any thoughts
feel free to say something in the comments.
I really like this post and think Derby is really important to the point that Vonnegut is trying to make with this novel. By saying that Derby is a character now Vonnegut is making us think about the fact that no one else really has strong reaction to anything that is going on, like you said in your post. However, I think it is also important to think about this in the context of a traditional war novel. This is the big speech meant to draw a huge reaction to the other soldiers and draw them around him. In this case though, Vonnegut doesn't include the speech. The very think that would make Derby a "real" character in a "real" novel isn't included in this one. I think it is just another way for Vonnegut to critique war novels and make the speech seem unimportant, no matter how movingly Derby spoke, since in a real war no one really cares.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting observation that Derby could have joined the Nazis and still have been portraying an anti-war message. That just goes to show how senseless his character is. Perhaps he's a patriotic American surrounded by people who just want to sleep, or perhaps he's indifferent. Either way, he's still poor old Edgar Derby, who is going to be shot for stealing a teapot from the ruins of Dresden. (So it goes.) This is yet another example of how unrealistic the patriotic war hero is.
ReplyDeleteI'd think, if anything, that Vonnegut would want to emphasize Derby's message, which is the more classical and generic anti-war message - To band together in brotherhood and forget these divisions between us. It's the type of stuff you'd see in Chaplin's The Great Dictator or, like Kat said, Captain America. It's not like Derby wants war, he's just an old schoolteacher who wants to help out. But, as you pointed out, that's not enough to Vonnegut. He needs all of it to be gone, even the good people in the war, which is a take that we're probably more accustomed to, living in a post-Vietnam AND post-Iraq/Afghanistan world, where war becomes increasingly gray.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Max's comment. I think its really interesting how fruitless Derby's character seems to be. No matter how much he loves his country, and is willing to go against the law to fight for it, in the end, everything is hopeless because he dies.
ReplyDeleteIn some sense, Derby is a "character" in this scene the way that his death is the "climax" of the novel: with both, Vonnegut places the conventional literary terms in quotation marks, as his novel works hard not to have a climax or characters or any kind of conventional plot. So instead of the speech itself, we get a paraphrase and summary, as if the "character" isn't able to speak for himself even when giving a (potentially) rousing speech. And the meaninglessness of his strong sentiments is underscored by the absolute lack of any response, followed by air-raid sirens: the potent words of these humans mean nothing in the face of "enormous forces" that they can't comprehend or affect in any way.
ReplyDeleteThe scene this most closely reminds me of is when Billy gets his brief flash of inspiration and speaks movingly about why humans insist on fighting and why can't there be world peace? And the Tralfamadorians just laugh at him for being "stupid." Billy's "speech" is drawn straight from any number of sci-fi narratives, where the aliens teach the earthlings something about peaceful coexistence--but not in this novel.