Soon Enough

pg. 95, "Billy saw the war movies backwards then forwards-and then it was time to go out into his yard to meet the flying saucer. Out he went, his blue and ivory feet crushing the wet salad of the lawn. He stopped, took a swig of the dead champagne. It was like 7-Up. He would not raise his eyes up to the sky, though he knew there was a flying saucer from Tralfamadore up there. He would see it soon enough, inside and out, and he would see, too, where it came from soon enough-soon enough."

1. This quote first appealed to me because of the description of the feet and the lawn. The imagery of that struck me. I literally had to stop reading, and read that line again. Vonnegut uses the blue and ivory description repeatedly, and I always just feel cold when reading it; I think of a slightly frozen dead body in some arctic tundra. However when used in this situation, in conjunction with the wet salad of the lawn, the foot becomes reanimated. The wet salad is just amazing. This sounds strange, but it made me feel squishy. And of course the dead champagne is a great indicator of the "end of a party", the nostalgic sadness that always seems to follow happy times.
But when I read on, much more than the imagery pulled me towards this section. He knows he is about to be abducted by aliens. He really has no choice. I think that feeling of just playing the part pervades this novel. Billy has been to points in his "future", and he has to piece together what happens in between his "current" state and the state he suddenly jumps to. But he can't do anything really. He is no longer living his life. There is no "in the moment". He just simply knows everything that's going to happen and just keeps going. Using the phrase "soon enough" indicates that he's in no rush, and he has no real concerns; he's not angry about what's going to happen. Sure he's not thrilled either. He's totally indifferent now, extremely nonchalant. He is no longer the driver of the car that is his life. Ah. That would be so horrible. Such an interesting and sort of scary exercise to try and imagine what you would do, if you couldn't actually do anything...

2. Um, the answer to my first question summed this up a bit. It's important because it is becoming clear that this is a pervasive theme of the novel. Once Billy becomes unstuck in time, he has no mystery and no control. He just plods along, somewhat sullenly.

3. I find this depressing idea everywhere. Especially in religion. The idea of "pre-destiny", you know basically, "God" has a plan for every single solitary person, and you just fit right in there and just live the way he apparently wants you to. You can't change much, maybe you can try and be good, but then God is also choosing that you try and change. He chooses everything. You have no free will. Of course that's why I prescribe to no real religion. I feel that humans can affect their surroundings and their future. We may be guided, but, we find just that, guidelines, not strict walls that we cannot pass. I honestly can't think of who would want to have no say in their life. Who would want to sort of just sit back and let everything pass before you? Bleh, religion is so pointless, it's supposed to give hope and faith, but when I look at what it teaches, it rapes life of any point, or objective, or reason. It basically makes me feel that really there is no reason to ever do anything, even to live. Why would you want that?