In the book, the phrase "Poo-tee-weet?", is used many times. I believe that the meaning of this is to let the reader understand that there is nothing else to say. When this phrase is used it is most often after a massacre or time of horror, and poo-tee-weet is the only way to describe the awful and terrible things that went on. There is nothing that can really describe the Dresden bombing so Vonnegut uses poo-tee-weet, because there is no answer. It is used again at the end of the book, outside of Billy's hospital window, when he is in Dresden retrieving souvenirs. It signals the end, the war is over and the only way to describe it was with "poo-tee-weet?"
Throughout the book it also says that everything was so awful that the birds stopped speaking. And the last line of the book a bird says "poo-tee-weet?" The birds finally started talking again. And possibly, things were looking up.
But why did Vonnegut choose the words poo-tee-weet, why not just a chirp of a bird? What is the significance of using those three words?
I think that there is no significance of the three words "poo-tee-weet", but that "poo-tee-weet" is just the general sound of birds. "Poo-tee-weet" is sound that happens after a massacre, where humans have demolished each other, but somewhere in the trees, birds still sing "poo-tee-weet". When a war happens, almost every person in the world is focused on the war and surviving, but we all forget that life is still happening around us. Birds and trees and other animals still live on. So when the humans have stopped killing each other, they hear the simple song of a bird that they haven't paid attention to for years. On page 19, the book says, "Everything is supposed to be very quiet after a massacre, and it always is, except for the birds. And what do the birds say? All there is to say about a massacre, things like 'Poo-tee-weet'". When wars are over, we realize that the world still turns and revolves and the birds remind us of that life goes on.
ReplyDelete