"One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged form being characters"

I've now finished the book (Slaughterhouse-Five). Strange one, I must admit. But in only two-hundred fifteen pages, I was able to see the most important occurrences in Billy Pilgrim's life. From when he was in his mother's womb, to when he was killed, to when he meet the Tralfamadorians, and to his experiences at war. It is much more than one can learn about a character in even three-hundred pages.

Vonnegut's narrative techniques are amazing in this novel. The end doesn't seem like the end at all. I dont meant it's one of those endings where the reader is left shocked at the sudden, unexpected ending. It's nothing like that actually. But this is not bad in any way. When I finished reading, I felt like this book could just keep on and on forever, with Billy time-traveling from one year to the other. This feeling simply strengthened Billy Pilgrim's and the Tralfamadorians' belief that time is circular. 

Kurt Vonnegut is brilliantly adapting a belief into a literary technique. He somehow makes the narrating of the book circular itself. With his narrative techniques, any part of the book could be the beginning or the ending. The story doesn't follow a series of events in a chronological order. It goes back and forth in time, supporting the idea that everything happens at the same time instead of chronologically. The order of events coud be altered and everything would remain clear and coherent. 

For some reason, Vonnegut decided to end Billy's story with Pilgrim being at the Tralfamadorian zoo with Montana Wildhack and their baby. It's strange how out of all the events in Billy's life, he decided to use this one as the final one. I believe he chose this one because it's the point in Billy's life where he's finally happy and fits in. Odd, isn't it? How the place where Billy fits in best, is a planet with beings completely different from him. But he's had a hard life. In war, nobody liked him very much because of how weak and weird he was. After the war ended he got married, but it was to a woman who he didn't even like. However, he seems completely happy with Montana and their newborn. There seems to be a sense of belonging that is not present in any other part of the novel. True, it might all be a made up story in Billy's head, but it's where he's happiest.

"Are Tralfamadorians a Reflection of Humans?"

I recently read a blog post called "Ignoring the Dreadful"by Viviana Correa. She wonders about the resemblance between Tralfamadorians and humans, and criticizes the human race. "There's nothing bad about humans", many believe. Others think "Well, we do damage our surroundings, but whatever. What is there to do?" Viviana believes the opposite.

"I believe Vonnegut is trying to show us how irrational we are, when we think we humans know everything, and are more important than anybody else. Therefore, we try to change things, stop them, and create them without worrying about the consequences these actions might bring to the entire planet."This is said on Viviana's blog. I completely agree with her. Tralfamadorians might be a way to demonstrate humans' barbarity and foolishness. We believe we're so smart and the world is made for our amusement and benefit. So we decide to proper and leave everything behind: our trash, those species we endanger, damaged ecosystems, etc.

We pollute our Earth every day. But it's for us, the greatest species of our Earth, why does it matter? Right? No. Who are we to pollute our earth like this? Yeah, we are smart. But does this give us the right to ruin our earth? After all, we are not the only ones living on this world. There are mammals, amphibians, carnivores, omnivores, trees, flowers, and many other types of living things that are being killed because of us and our constant need for money.

What if we were the animals? Then it would seem unfair, wouldn’t it? But since we are people it doesn’t matter much, does it? Viviana describes how Billy was kept naked in a zoo for Tralfamadorians to behold all the time. This seems ridiculous and irrespecutful to many readers. But don't we do the same? We just frown upon it because in this case, it's a human who's in the cage.

Viviana also mentions the Tralfamadorians' point of view ("...they tell Billy Earthlings should start ignoring awful times and concentrating on good ones.") and admits that it is hard for humans to ignore the bad things. I completely agree with her, though I didn't realize so as I read. Many of us might hav a million things to smile about and small problem. Do you think this would make us happy or sad? It would be expected for us to feel happy in these cases. However, most of us focus on the problem and ignore all other things we could be smiling about. Just like Viviana and the Tralfamadorians say, this should halt. We should ignore the bad things. Smile because of all those good things, instead of looking bad at all those nagging problems.

"Billy Pilgrim was Cinderella, and Cinderella was Billy Pilgrim."

We have all heard of Cinderella. You probably owned the movie as a child, read the story, or at least know what it's about. The girl who after living a nightmare, gets the perfect life. Who would have thought that Billy Pilgrim has Cinderella's life? Not once did I see this coming, but it is undoubtedly true.

Just like Cinderella, Billy's father died when he was very young - curiously, Billy's dad died in 1944, the same year in which Vonnegut's mother died. As they grew older, both Cinderella and Pilgrim lived in constant battle. Cinderella had to struggle with her stepmother's and stepsisters' abusiveness, while Billy had to fight in World War II. Then, while at the prison camp, Billy decided to steal a pair of boots. The first one he tries on fit him perfectly, just like Cinderella with the glass slipper. Later on, they both marry and get great lives. Cinderella marries the prince and lives happily ever after in a castle, nowhere near her evil stepmom and stepsisters. Billy Pilgrim marries a rich woman. She is not pretty, but thanks to her, Billy is able to become a wealthy and successful person.

Billy and the rest of the American soldiers in the prison camp are taken to Dresden. Ironically, they are told they wil be safe in Dresden because it is undefended. The English envied the Americans for being able to go to such a wonderful place. The Americans were ecstatic to finally go to a place without war. All of them, except for Billy, were completely oblivious to the fact that in a few days or weeks, there would be a bombing: The Dresden Bombing (for information about this go to this blog entry). The English must have felt a pang of relief when they found out about this bombing. Their lives had been spared. What if it were them who were sent to Dresden? Then everything would have been different.

Billy already knows how and when he'll die. Thus, he probably had no fear at all when Dresden was bombed. He knew his time to die hadn't come yet. What would it be like to always know what is gonna happen next? It would definitely take everything away from life. You know when you've heard a joke so many times that it becomes boring? Life would be this way. You always know everything that is about to happen. There would be no surprises, no laughter, and no happiness. Yes, there would be no grief as well, but all this would make life monotonous until the very end.

If I knew from the start when I would die, I would live my life to the fullest until the end. I would take greater risks, knowing there'd be no way they would take me to my end. However, Billy can't do this because he believes his life has already been planned out. He doesn't want to change anything. So knowing when he'll die doesn't benefit him in any way.  It even makes him openly allow somebody to kill him when the time comes.

I used to believe that it would be great to know the future, to avoid all those surprisingly bad moments. However, I no loger do. Life would be completely boring and predictable. It is much better to have life surprise you all the time, even if some surprises are not good. This way you'll also have constant unexpected happinesses, making life worth living.

"I Suppose That the Idea of Preventing War on Earth is Stupid Too"

Many people view war as something necessary and vital for society. Others see it as the perfect way to make decisions, letting the most powerful side win. Some like war because it is their source of income. Several loathe it because they lost a loved one to it. Most people, like me, hate it because they watch the news and know what is going on. But just a few despise it, because they were there.

Billy Pilgrim is on of these. He describes it as a "senseless slaughter" and is sickened by the horrible deeds done at war. These were awful. Soldiers would boil innocent school girls and kill men for no reason. At one point, one of Billy's colleagues is shot. Yes, this is bad, but it seems nowhere out of the ordinary. However, to make matters worse, soldiers pinned a target on him. This greatly enraged me. I felt a huge hatred towards these sick men while reading this. Not only are they killing somebody, but they are also making a game out of it. How messed up can you be to do something as senseless and idiotic as this?

When describing his comrades, Billy says they "were proud of fighting pure evil at the time." The phrase "at the time" demonstrates that this is no longer the case. Former soldiers are not proud of the terrible things they did at war. As one of them, Billy desires peace on Earth and even asks the Tralfamadorians to help him attain it. I like this about Billy. He is constantly trying to improve society and feels like this is in his hands. This is demonstrated with him joining the army -and this way helping his country- and afterwards writing letters to enlighten people about the Tralfamadorians' ideas. He believes the latter will help people understand everything better and improve their lives.

People in opposite sides of wars are unbelievably cruel to each other. This is why I was utterly shocked as I read about what a good friend a German was to the English in the war prison. He would visit and play with them, teach them, and play piano for them. He even says that if it weren't for them, he would go mad.

This is proof that although countries may be fighting and hating each other, this will never stop people from being friends with their country's enemy. In this case, even those who are fighting and are supposed to hate each other, have become friends. This is the country's fight, not theirs. They are doing the right thing and not letting a huge war between countries get to them personally and affect their relationships with others. This is something others should be able to do as well: Not let others' fights get to them.

“You guys are going to have to come up with a lot of wonderful new lies, or people aren’t going to want to go on living.”

We see humans’ lives as the perfect ones. Most of us see nothing wrong with the way we are supposed to live, as well as the ideals and the rules we must follow. This is because we know no other way.  The Tralfamadorians, however, have a completely different way to live and view life. They see humans’ lives as something despicable.

True, they don’t’ have free will. This would make most people, if given the choice, choose Earth over Tralfmadore. Yet, there has to be a reason as to why, even though he’s living in a cage and watched all the time, Billy doesn’t like Earth any better than Tralfmadore.

We have gotten used to policies and restraints that would make no sense to any outsider. We are used to a life where we have to go to school in order to get into a university. But why do we have to go to a university? To be able to get a good job. We get a good job to live a good life. Yet, we have to spend all our time working and most people are not able to fully take advantage of what they have. They work, work, work. Always trying to get a better life, but then they die without ever being able to make good use of what they had. So it goes.

At the prison camp, Billy is asked how he lost his boots… only to realize he has no idea. For many, this would be strange and dumb. “Why doesn’t he remember? It was only a few weeks ago”, many would think. Some would even dare to diagnose him with memory diseases. Yet, I have learned from experience that it is hard to remember occurrences from traumatic events. I was at my club, El Nogal, when the bomb occurred. After almost twelve years, there are many details I can’t remember from this experience.  My memories are blurry and there are portions from that episode where I'm not aware of what happened. I can’t even recall how I got from a place to another in many cases. In fact, to fill in the empty spaces in my memory, I had to ask my family and my housekeeper about what they remembered. There is no way I could have recalled everything on my own. This is probably what happened to Billy after such shocking experiences at war.  It is something completely understandable in such circumstances.

While Billy is at the prison camp, he meets Edgar Derby. Derby expected to have become a commander or somebody important in the army by then, but he was a simple soldier, recognized by nobody. I believe this is my biggest fear. It would completely break me to reach an age where I thought I would have everything, and have nothing. I would feel like I’ve failed. This reminds me of a new song by Coldplay called “Paradise.” It’s about a woman who as a girl thought she would have everything when she grew up. However, she let life pass her by and then, the only way to get the life she always wanted, was in her dreams. I honestly hope this doesn’t happen to me. It would tear me apart. To avoid this, I must have clear priorities and live a good life. But, what is a good life?

“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.

"Here we are... trapped in the amber of this moment. There is no why."

What would it be like to be abducted be mysterious beings and have them completely change your view on life? I don't know, Billy Pilgrim would, though.  After all, he was taken by the Tralfamadorians. It's funny because he was completely aware of the fact that a flying saucer would be coming for him that night. I was confused by this at first, but then remembered he is able to travel through time. So I concluded that Billy had already lived this night, but because he goes back and forth in time,  he is reliving it.

As Billy Pilgrim wandered through his house waiting for the Tralfamadorians to arrive, the phone rang. Why is somebody calling in the middle of the night? It was a drunk man. It is said in the book that "Billy could almost smell his breath - mustard gas and roses." Although I have no idea what this would smell like, this olfactory imagery was strangely familiar. After giving it much thought, I realized where I had heard this before. On chapter one, the narrator who seeks to write a book, admits getting drunk late at night and calling his ex-girlfriends. It seems like the narrator is the one calling Billy. He could've dialed the wrong number, or maybe Billy's wife was once his girlfriend. This is the second time that Billy's and the narrator's lives meet.

After hanging up on the drunk person, Pilgrim decides to watch a movie. He comes unstuck in time and watches the movie from the end to the beginning, completely distorting the plot. It's a war movie about the damage caused by Germans. However, by watching it this way, the story ends up being about how Germans saved everybody. This contradicts the Tralfamadorians' and Billy's idea that time is linear. It proves that cause and effect plays a huge role in time and that the order of events may completely change a story's meaning.

Billy travels to the past and to the future. There is a moment were he goes back to when he was a prisoner of war. He was taken to a prison and given a jacket of a dead civilian. This reminded me of a book called I Have Live a Thousand Years. This is a story about a Jewish girl in a concentration camp during World War II. One day, they are all given new clothes and she is ecstatic... that is, until she realizes the coat she was given belonged to murdered Jewish girl. This makes her loathe this piece of clothing forever, I would have too. However, in Slaughterhouse-Five, it seems like no soldier found it uncomfortable to be wearing coats that once belonged to a fellow soldier.

Once Billy met the Tralfamadorians, my theory was proven correct. On my last blog, I assumed Billy Pilgrim believed life has been planned out until the very end. Once Billy is on the flying saucer, a Tralfamadorian says "I see time as you might see a stretch of the Rocky Mountains. All time is all time. It does not change. It does not lend itself with warnings or explanations. It simply is." 

This demonstrates that Tralfamadorians believe everything happens because it is meant to be. I in no way agree with this because I find it quite discouraging. According to them, beings have no control over what happens and there is no such thing as free will. They are convinced that choices don't exist because every life has already been planned out from birth to death.