Racu Andreea Oana American Studies, 2nd year

The War and its influence upon humans mind in Kurt Vonneguts Slaughter House

Slaughterhouse-Five proves to be a satire to the World War II and its atrocities. In the same time, the novel has very many science-fiction elements. Billy, the main character, has very many mental problems, due to the firebombing of Dresden. In the novel the events are presented as in Billys mind randomly, and without any chronological order. Due to the atrocities of the war, Billy Pilgrim becomes insane. There are many elements that influenced Billy to become insane, such the very destructiveness of the war, the sight presence from Billys experience, and the existence, or not of free will.

Apparently, in his outside life, Billy seems to be a very normal person. A parent of two, he has processional success. He is president of the Lions Club, lives in a thoroughly comfortable modern home, and works as a prosperous optometrist. But h is very miserable inside. One example in this sense is that Billy once walks on his son and realizes that they are unfamiliar with each other. He is very traumatized by the war and, therefore, he cannot give a sense to his life, not understanding what it is actually happening to him. The atrocities of the war and its influence upon human life and mind are very well are presented with the help of science-fiction. There are science-fiction elements like the Tralfamadorians (with their toilet-plunger shape) that are not real and that do not live on

Planet Earth. It actually is a technique that Kurt Vonnegut uses in several of his novels, that is to use fictional alien races as to depict and talk about mental human disabilities produced by the war. Billy the insane character finds an escape in the Tralfamadorian theory of the fourth dimension. It sis with the help of these aliens that he can explain himself all the deaths that he has witnessed during the war and make up his real world where such things are normal. In such conditions and under such events it is very difficult to talk about the existence of free-will. Can there be such thing as free-will when talking about a person with mental problems? At this point an explanation must be made. The Tralfamadorians are aliens that live with the knowledge of the fourth dimension. From their point of view this fourth dimension contains all moments of time occurring and reoccurring endlessly and simultaneously. Their theory suggests that in the universe there is no such thing as free-will (except on the Earth) and that the time is not linear. There is an endless repetition of events. And this situation cannot be changed by anyone. Billys professional background proves to influence his mental illness. His is an optometrist. Billys role is more than that. He considers that his precise task is to go beyond his the level of his material work and correct the world form nearsightedness. He able to do this, due to his knowledge of the fourth dimension. He achieved this after the contact with the aliens Tralfamadorians. Form their point of view, all moments of time exist simultaneously and repeat themselves endlessly. Therefore, he considers that he already knows the future by having lived in the past.

Whit a theory such as that of the Tralfamadorians in which Billy believes, it is very important to discuss the issue of free will. Is there such thing as free will? There are situations narrated in the book that present Billys free will. With all this, Billy proves to be in between his outer forces and his free will throughout the novel, and all his life. There is a situation in his childhood, when, in order to teach him how to swim, his father lets him sink o the bottom of the pool. Billy exercises his free will by deciding to stay on the bottom of the

pool. But, he is rescued. During the war, Billy is willingly acting the normal course of events. He does not have proper clothing and supplies. He willingly does not want to be trained. With all this, his actions may be interpreted as being very logical. In a war one has a great chance to die with or without proper clothing and training. So he puts it more upon luck. He may think so even because he was the survivor of an airplane crash Moreover, Billy exercises his free will in an effort to preach that there is no such thing as free will.

The war proves to be extremely destructive, not only for with external material causes, but, most importantly, it seriously affects the mental functioning of those involved in the war. As a port-was trauma, the main character, has serious mental problems. He thinks that he has been kidnapped by an alien species, the Tralfamadorians. He also says that he was kept in a zoo. There he meets an actress, with whom he mates. The events are presented in an elliptical manner, similar to his mental state. Therefore, there is no mention about the childs life and growth, and, also nothing is said about how he escapes the zoo. With all this, Billy, has a consciousness about his mental problems and, because he considers that his life has no meaning anymore, he goes to a mental hospital. There he meets a science fiction writer. It is only after reading his novels, that he can again give a sense to his life. Consequently, for Billy fife has a meaning only in science fiction, only in hiperreaity. In conclusion, Slaughter House-Five authentically presents the atrocities of the war. And the great influence that such events can have upon human life.