Function: Often times, people that experience war struggle to conform back into the routines of society. In Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five, protagonist Billy Pilgrim has difficulty dealing with the traumatic effects of the bombing of Dresden during WWII. To cope with his experiences, Billy develops this idea of Tralfamadore, a planet far more advanced than Earth. The Tralfamadorians can see time as humans “might see a stretch of the Rocky Mountains” (85). They see all time as a physical setting. Also, Billy is able to “time-travel” back to his childhood, the war, Tralfamadore, or ahead in time to the future. The function of the motif of time illuminates the theme that life is very unpredictable and uncontrollable. Both the Tralfamadorian
…show more content…
Also, the Tralfamadorians tell Billy that time “does not change” (85) and that “all moments, past, present, and future, always have existed, always will exist” (26). Painful events have happened in the past and will continue to happen. This idea of time again shows Billy that life goes on and is uncontrollable. It gives him some relief that war and death has and always will happen. “So it goes.” Additionally, Billy is constantly time-traveling throughout the novel. His instability in time relates to the instability in his mind. The war leaves Billy with a very pessimistic and poor view on life. In order to deal with this view, Billy alternates between time periods as a way of escaping the memories in his mind. However, Billy “has no control over where he is going next” (23) which relates to the theme of life as uncontrollable and unpredictable. Billy cannot control what goes on in his mind just as he cannot control what happens in is life; he has lost control of reality and fantasy. The motif of time plays an important role in the novel. Time is the only way for Billy to somewhat handle what has happened to him. Billy’s time-traveling and the Tralfamadorian theory of time allow Billy to grasp that what happens in life is never
Also, the Tralfamadorians tell Billy that time “does not change” (85) and that “all moments, past, present, and future, always have existed, always will exist” (26). Painful events have happened in the past and will continue to happen. This idea of time again shows Billy that life goes on and is uncontrollable. It gives him some relief that war and death has and always will happen. “So it goes.” Additionally, Billy is constantly time-traveling throughout the novel. His instability in time relates to the instability in his mind. The war leaves Billy with a very pessimistic and poor view on life. In order to deal with this view, Billy alternates between time periods as a way of escaping the memories in his mind. However, Billy “has no control over where he is going next” (23) which relates to the theme of life as uncontrollable and unpredictable. Billy cannot control what goes on in his mind just as he cannot control what happens in is life; he has lost control of reality and fantasy. The motif of time plays an important role in the novel. Time is the only way for Billy to somewhat handle what has happened to him. Billy’s time-traveling and the Tralfamadorian theory of time allow Billy to grasp that what happens in life is never