The literary term 'metaphor' serves as an example in Slaughterhouse Five: "The water had died. So it goes. Air was trying to escape from the dead water. Bubbles were grabbing onto the side of the glass, to weak to jump out."
I read the quote and realized its importance the second time seeing it. The air tries to escape from the dead water in a sense that Billy wants to escape (at least via time travel) from the hospital.
Billy is like that bubble trying to climb on the glass, but he is too sick to travel to another moment in time. Pilgrim feels dead in a sense that he cannot think of a different time in his life. Vonnegut could have said that the moment died as Billy attempted to escape from the scene. Instead, "the water died. So it goes. Air was trying to escape from the dead water" shows how it can be extremely difficult for Billy to concentrate on "traveling", "bubbles were grabbing onto the side of the glass, to weak to jump out" indicates that his brain was to tired to think of different, happier times.
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