As I continue to read through this very long chapter, Chapter 5, I'm going to blog about one reference i came across that I thought peculiar to be in this book. Vonnegut includes this reference "Out marched fifty middle-aged Englishman. They were singing 'Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here' from the Pirates of Penzance"(93). At first I simply overlooked this small song lyric, but I then began to think that the Pirates of Penzance wasn't popular to Englishmen in that period. This song was a rewrite of original song and become popular to Americans in around 1917. Vonnegut clearly includes this to see if the reader is paying attention. Also this could indicate that the American prisoners could be passing some of their culture onto the Englishmen. Vonnegut is a very clever writer and definitely had a reason for putting this small reference in his "war book"
Friday, July 27, 2012
Hail, Hail the Gangs All Here
As I continue to read through this very long chapter, Chapter 5, I'm going to blog about one reference i came across that I thought peculiar to be in this book. Vonnegut includes this reference "Out marched fifty middle-aged Englishman. They were singing 'Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here' from the Pirates of Penzance"(93). At first I simply overlooked this small song lyric, but I then began to think that the Pirates of Penzance wasn't popular to Englishmen in that period. This song was a rewrite of original song and become popular to Americans in around 1917. Vonnegut clearly includes this to see if the reader is paying attention. Also this could indicate that the American prisoners could be passing some of their culture onto the Englishmen. Vonnegut is a very clever writer and definitely had a reason for putting this small reference in his "war book"
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