Irony

In chapter 9, Vonnegut displays many examples of irony. When Billy is taking a nap and sunning himself in the "coffin-shaped green wagon," (248), the author states that "if this sort of selectivity had been possible for Billy, he might have chosen as his happiest moment his sun drenched snooze in the back of the wagon," (249). This statement is ironic because, first of all, because Billy's happiest moment is after the city of Dresden had suffered a terrible bombing, a ton of lives were lost, and he was in a "coffin-shaped" wagon. All of these things are negative and death related, yet Billy is perfectly content. Secondly, his happiest moment is ironic because shortly after he sheds his first tears throughout  the whole war when he notices the awful condition that the horses pulling the wagon are in. Billy's dramatic and severe change in emotions show that he is traumatized and unstable.