Alongside the main ideas of the passage are the satirical and humorous depictions of Billy's experience in prison. All of these concepts express Vonnegut's postmodernism, with the outhouse representing the terrible realities of life, Billy's question showing the futility of opposing reality, and the comedy being Vonnegut's alternative response to such unpleasant truths. Within this section of Billy's abnormal life, Vonnegut summarizes the postmodernist views on which the entire novel is based.