Mustard Gas and Roses

In the very beginning of “Chapter 4”, there is a quote that jumped at me as soon as I read it. It was: “Billy answered. There was a drunk on the other end. Billy could almost smell his breath-mustard gas and roses. It was a wrong number. Billy hung up.” Why did it jump at me? It reminded me to the phrase in “Chapter 3” where Vonnegut introduces himself directly into Billy’s story (like I talked about in my past blog post). This quote has exactly the same effect. In “Chapter 1”, Vonnegut talked about how, searching for information for his book, he used to get drunk and call old friends. He specifically said in two parts, that he had a breath of mustard gas and roses, just like the guy who called Billy. So, could this mysterious caller, actually be Vonnegut? It amazes me how Vonnegut can give this story such weird and interesting twists, in such a subtle way. Where one apparently insignificant detail, could alter my interpretation of the book, or at least Vonnegut’s role in it.

This quote also refutes my idea that “Chapter 1” might have been written before the rest of the book. Honestly, I believe that it’s more logical to think that Vonnegut described himself as having “mustard gas and roses” in his breath, and then placing himself into the story. Rather than writing the whole story, and then describing himself as having that scent in his breath, or introducing an extra event into his book just so he could be part of it. This next part might make no sense, because it could contradict everything I just said, but I actually am this confused about this idea. I haven’t been able to decide which interpretation to stick by. It could be possible that Vonnegut wrote the quote about the mustard gas and roses in the drunk’s breath, and then, identified himself with that quote, thus leading him to describe his own breath that way in “Chapter 1”.

In my past blog post, I explained how I thought Billy was the personification of Vonnegut’s trauma, and that Vonnegut was an invisible character in Billy’s story. But in this quote used in “Chapter 4”, he physically brings himself into the story. He makes himself a character in the night that redefined Billy’s life. Not an invisible character that acts as a narrator, but a flesh and bone character able to make calls. Although, with the complexness of things like time in this book, Vonnegut could be both the invisible character/narrator, and the flesh and bone character that makes the call.

Another idea that came to me, actually during the process of analyzing this quote, is that Vonnegut might not actually be introducing himself into Billy’s story. He could be introducing Billy’s story into his life, into his world. If Billy is Vonnegut’s trauma, it would make sense that he tries to connect it to his real life, telling the reader that Billy’s story has some truth to it. That it’s not just a bizarre fiction story.

Soldier exposed to mustard gas

I had no idea what mustard gas was, so I investigated a bit on it. It was actually a chemical weapon used during the war, it was categorized as a “lethal gas”, and it can also be called “sulfur mustard”. It gets its name from the yellow color it sometimes has, and the mustard-like scent it carries. It’s an alkylating agent, and what does that mean? This chemical destroys DNA and cells, and it liquefies any tissue it comes in contact with. It doesn’t kill instantly, but rather tortures the person for more than 48 hours. It’s so curious how Vonnegut combines two opposing things to represent his breath, mustard gas (which like I just said) represents a horrible death, and roses which represent love and passion. I think it’s almost as if Vonnegut was trying to tell us how confused war had left him, how deeply traumatized he was.