"The minerals were then shipped to specialists in remote areas. It was their business to put them back into the ground, to hide them cleverly, so that they would never hurt anyone ever again" (Vonnegut 75).
The picture shows compost and a pile of old bricks, with ivy growing up over them. The things in the picture are crumbling apart and being retaken by nature. The quote comes from a scene where Billy is watching a war movie in reverse- seeing planes fixed, cities rebuilt, soldiers returning to high school, and weapons taken apart and their parts put back into the ground. This scene empathizes the anti-war sentiments of Slaughterhouse Five.
I thought that this was a sad scene, reflecting on what could have been if not for the war. Vonnegut's own experiences from his time serving in World War II, especially his time as a prisoner of war and his witnessing the bombing of Dresden, probably influenced this scene. It reflects the sentiment that war is a bad thing that will only lead to death and destruction. But I think that there is also an element of hope here. The fact that Vonnegut includes the weapons being taken apart and the material in them returned underground shows a glimmer of hope that one day people will stop using war as a solution to problems, and that peace will eventually come.
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