“How nice – to feel nothing, and still get full credit for being alive.”

When we think of war, we think of brave, strong men astutely fighting… well at least I do. This is even what most movies show, fooling even soldiers themselves. As said by an imprisoned English colonel in Slaughterhouse-Five, “We’ve had to imagine the war here, and we have imagined it has been fought by aging men like ourselves. We had forgotten that wars were fought by babies.”  

This is completely true, most soldiers don’t even know what they’re doing until it’s all in their past. For example, it is explained that Billy’s friend from the veteran’s hospital killed a 14-year-old fireman after mistaking him for a German soldier. This is something I would never be able to get over. First of all, I’d never be able to kill somebody. Much less somebody who isn’t even my opponent. I’d feel guilty forever, always trying reverse time and change this.

I’m not able to travel in time, but Billy is. He goes to the future, to when Tralfamadorians abduct him. I would be completely terrified to have aliens take me from my house to their planet. It would be scary enough if a human kidnapped me and took me to his house. However in this case, it’s neither humans nor a place on Earth. It ‘s a group of strange-looking beings in a flying saucer that aren’t even able to talk without machines’ aid. Yet Billy seems completely calm. He even asks them for a book to read during the trip. And after reading a bit and disliking it, he takes the additional risk of requesting another one.

When Billy arrives at the war prison, he is given a small jacket that probably belonged to a child. Since it is so small on Billy, it tears at the back and the sleeves come off completely. This makes the German officers laugh hysterically. Then, while watching fellow prisoners perform Cinderella, a certain couplet causes Billy to laugh so uncontrollably that he has to be taken to the hospital.

Many readers would see these as absurd and implausible occurrences. However, I disagree with those who see it this way. War is a place where most of the time, people suffer. There are barely any happy moments. I know from experience that in hard or sad situations, even the smallest happy thing can make you laugh. Probably because it helps you forget your problems, even if it’s only for a second.  It’s much easier to make me laugh when I’m crying than when I’m not, probably for this reason. This is most likely what happened to the Germans officers and Billy then. If in ordinary situations people laughed so hard at these incidents, many would believe they’re crazy. However, in a war there are rarely any happy occurrences. Just the faintest hint of happiness or humor can make someone laugh hysterically. It’s one of the few happy moments they’ve had and it demonstrates that life is still bright.