"There isn’t any particular relationship between the messages, except that the author has chosen them carefully, so that, when seen all at once, they 
produce an image of life that is beautiful and surprising and deep. There is no beginning, no middle, no end, no suspense, no moral, no causes, no effects. What we love in our books are the depths of many marvelous moments seen all at one time." P. 112
produce an image of life that is beautiful and surprising and deep. There is no beginning, no middle, no end, no suspense, no moral, no causes, no effects. What we love in our books are the depths of many marvelous moments seen all at one time." P. 112In this passage, Billy attempts to read a Trafalmadorian novel. However, he is unable to read it but realizes that the books are laid out in clumps separated by stars. In the quote above, one of Billy's captors explains why Trafalmadorian novels are structured as they are.
Kurt Vonnegut obviously adopts this model in the structuring of Slaughterhouse Five. He separates clumps of texts with a row of dots. Like billy, Vonnegut also lack the power to choose his moments. Vonnegut's use of the Trafalmadorian structure appears to be a desperate effort to achieve the beauty and depth he thinks his novel may lack. The rows of dots in Slaughterhouse are something the novel can go without; they do not add any dimensions to the novel that Vonnegut may have strived for.
Do you think Vonnegut achieves the depth he aims for by separating the text with a row of dots?
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