Antagonist Mary

   The literary term 'antagonist' serves as an example in Slaughterhouse Five: "You pretend to be brave men who will be acted out by famous movie stars! The war will look so amazing that many more will occur. The wars will be fought by babies!"

   I read the quote and realized its importance the second time seeing it. Vonnegut describes Mary's antogonistic qualities to show how much she dislikes Billy Pilgrim and how much the war angers her. Mary is also angered by the fact that her children and every other child could eventually be killed during the war.

   Mary is also against Pilgrim because she thinks he is the reason her kids could potentially be drafted. Her anger is shown through the way she treats Pilgrim as she moves back and forth throughout the kitchen and the house. Mary could have expressed her anger by saying that Pilgrim thought he was brave instead of "you pretend to be brave men who will be acted out by famous movie stars!" She could have also expressed her anger by saying that the wars will intrigue people instead of being fought by children instead of "the war will look so amazing that many more will occur," and, "the war will be fought by babies!"