Billy Pilgrim character analysis/ Themes http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?
sgHitCountType=None&sort=RELEVANCE&inPS=true&prodId=L itRC&userGroupName=bata60268&tabID=T001&searchId=R2&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSeg ment=&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm¤tPosition=4&contentSet=GALE|H1420020855&&docI d=GALE|H1420020855&docType=GALE&role=LitRC Vonnegut continually undercuts our willing suspension of disbelief in Billy's time travel by offering multiple choices for the origin of Billy's imbalance: childhood traumas, brain damage from his plane crash, dreams, his shattering war experiences, and plain old fantasy In short, Tralfamadorianism is an argument for determinism. Yet, this is determinism without design, where chance rules. The universe will be destroyed accidentally by the Tralfamadorians, and wars on earth are inevitable.... The upshot of the Tralfamadorian philosophy finds expression in a clich: Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt. Meaning of Tralfamadorianism: If everything is predetermined and there is no why then men dont need to justify why they do bad/good things, it just is. o In his personal life, Billy's indifference and apathy toward others are clearly illustrated. Chapter Three offers three consecutive examples of Billy's behavior: he drives away from a black man who seeks to talk with him; he diffidently listens to a vicious tirade by a Vietnam Hawk at his Lions Club meeting; he ignores some cripples selling magazine subscriptions. Yet the Tralfamadorian idea that we can do nothing about anything fully justifies Billy's apathy. When Billy preaches this dogma as part of his calling, he does a great service for the already apathetic by confirming their attitude; he provides them with a philosophical base for their apathy. If one ignores the ghetto or the Vietnam War, neither exists. Novel represents Vonneguts hatred towards God because Gods will justifies atrocities of warall wars are holy-wars-men justify war and get away from guilt by calling it gods war.
Reed, Peter J. "Kurt Vonnegut, Jr." American Novelists Since World War II: Fourth Series. Ed. James R. Giles and Wanda H. Giles. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 152. Literature Resource Center. Web. 16 Mar. 2012. Vees-Gulani, Susanne. "Diagnosing Billy Pilgrim: a psychiatric approach to Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five." CRITIQUE: Studies in Contemporary Fiction 44.2 (2003): 175+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 16 Mar. 2012.
Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Writers Volume 2
BIOGRAPHY Born Nov. 11,1922 in Indianapolis, IN Son of successful architect Attended Cornell-majored in Chemistry and Biology Served in WWII, taken prisoner by Germans After war studied anthropology at Univ. of Chicago Moved to Scenectady, NY as publicist for GE corp. o Began submitting short stories to journals o Quit GE to work only on writing Player piano, 1st published novel Several novels throughout 1950s and 1960s Work not recognized until 1960s when American society began accepting social satires
Contemporary Popular Writershttp://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?action=interpret&id=GALE|K1632000266&v=2.1&u=bata60268&it=r& p=LitRC&sw=w&authCount=2 BIOGRAPHY Since SH5, been a famous spokesperson on social and cultural issues Studied journalism in high school Mechanical engineer in WWII, captured at Battle of the Bulge in 1944 Witnessed Dresden-80,000 to 120,000 killed Post SL5 begins essays and popular journal writings on social issues Very satirical and cynical Died in 2007 of brain damage from a fall Continued to publish novels until death (page 190-191)
Bailey, Ronald H. The Air War in Europe. Chicago: Time-Life Books, 1981. Print. HISTORY-DRESDEN
Attack so destructive because o Virtually no opposition o Citys antiaircraft guns were removed and sent to the Russian front o Fuel shortage made it so pilots were forbidden to take off without authorization o Authorization came too late-pilots sat on runway and watched Dresden burn o Weather clear, easy to aim bombs o Only one concrete bunker for bombs in the whole city Dresden burned for a week Task of removing dead so hard, city marked off and whole sections cremated Public learns that bombings not always directed at industrial powers, but a citizens Press suppressed in Britain and low in America
HISTORY- PUBLISHED DATE Published in 1969 Nixon inaugurated in January Nixon begins Vietnamization Astronauts take first walk on the moon U.S. and 100 other countries sign the nuclear nonproliferation treaty Published around time of Vietnam war which is why people accept the satire style
Classics of Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature The larger meaning of the novel applies to the late 1960s, as Vonnegut makes clear in his frame. Robert Kennedy and MLK jr., recently have been murdered, Vonnegut writes in the last chapter, And every day my Government gives me a count of corpses created by military science in Vietnam.
Freewill Science Fiction Writers second edition (Look in this book for Sci-Fi, dark humor arguments if switching for style) So it goes repetition critics have pointed out that Vonnegut is not angry enough that so it goes is an insufficient response to the suffering and evil in the world, that irony is the intellectuals expression of impotence; it is a form of fence-sitting and a response that humanity can no longer afford. (Charles L. Elkins) pg.858 In his Playboy interview (1973), he observes that laughing or crying is what a human being does when theres nothing else he can do. And there are times when one gets the feeling that Vonneguts description of himself as a total pessimist is accurate and unequivocal. o Vonnegut uses repetition to show the helplessness of the situation and the human reaction. Showing of emotion is the final and desperate straw for humans. Along with situational irony, there is a good deal of verbal irony (Such a repetitive phrase later becomes a Vonnegut calling card-witness And so it goes in Slaughterhouse-Five) It is funny; the reader looks forward to the ritual recitation. At the same time the profession of sincerity is undercut by the frequency of its restatement. Pg. 854 NEW SOURCE-Classics of Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature David Peck
The novel is held together not by any linear plot line but by these recurring images and phrases (particularly the Tralfamadorian So it goes whenever death is mentioned). The cause of Billys autistic present lies in his horrific past.
Freewill Theme Classics of Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature David Peck The Tralfamadorians say free will exists nowhere in the universe except on Earth-allows Billy to live in a world of which he has lost the essential meaning.
Novels for Students volume 3 One of the most important themes of Slaughterhouse-Five is that of free will, or, more precisely, its absence. This concept is articulated through the philosophy of the Tralfamadorians, for whom time is not a linear progression of events, but a constant condition: "All moments, past, present, and future, always have existed, always will exist." All beings exist in each moment of time like "bugs in amber," a fact that nothing can alter. "Only on Earth is there any talk of free will." What happens, happens. "Among the things Billy Pilgrim could not change were the past, the present, and the future." Accordingly, the Tralfamadorians advise Billy "to concentrate on the happy moments of life, and to ignore the unhappy ones."
Black Humor Style Novels for Students, Volume 3 Stylethe way an author arranges his or her words, sentences, and paragraphs into proseis one of the most difficult aspects of literature to analyze. However, it should be noted that Slaughter-house-Five is written in a very distinctive style. In describing overwhelming, horrible, and often inexplicable events, Vonnegut deliberately uses a very simple, straightforward prose style. He often describes complex events in the language one might use to explain something to a child, as in this description of Billy Pilgrim being marched to a German prison camp: In writing this way, Vonnegut forces the reader to confront the fundamental horror and absurdity of war head-on, with no embellishments, as if his readers were seeing it clearly for the first time. Black humor refers to an author's deliberate use of humor in describing what would ordinarily be considered a situation too violent, grim, or tragic to laugh at. In so doing, the author is able to convey not merely the tragedy, but also the absurdity, of an event. Vonnegut uses black humor throughout Slaughterhouse-Five, both in small details (the description of the half-crazed Billy
Pilgrim, after the Battle of the Bulge, as a "filthy flamingo") and in larger plot elements (Billy's attempts to publicize his encounters with the Tralfamadorians), to reinforce the idea that the horrors of war are not only tragic, but inexplicable and absurd.
War theme Novels for students, Volume 3 Slaughterhouse-Five deals with many different themes, but it is most of all a novel about the horrors of war. For Vonnegut, war is not an enterprise of glory and heroism, but an uncontrolled catastrophe for all involved, and anyone who seeks glory and heroism in war is deluded. Although World War II is regarded by most as a justified conflict which defeated the genocidal regime of Nazi Germany, Vonnegut sees only victims on all sides, from the American soldier executed by the Germans for looting to the 135,000 German civilians killed in the Allied firebombing of Dresden. The horrors of the war are so overwhelming that Vonnegut doubts his ability to write about them. Speaking directly in the first chapter, he says of the novel, "It is so short and jumbled and jangled because there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre." The only response to the nightmare of war is a profound alienation and distancing, made literal by Billy Pilgrim's being "unstuck in time." Appropriately, Billy's condition offers the most striking image of peace in the novel, as he becomes unstuck in time while watching a war movie on television and see it backwards *talking about weird structure, not chronological+ In this way, the novel's structure highlights both the centrality of Billy's war experiences to his life, as well as the profound dislocation and alienation he feels after the war. Billy Pilgrim Novels for students, volume 3 After the war, Billy becomes an optometrist, marries, and has two children. His life is mundane, but he continues his time-traveling experiences, which are, like everything else, beyond his power to control. His time spent with the Tralfamadorians helps him to gain a peaceful perspective on life. In the end, Billy comes to accept the fact that he cannot change events, and he devotes life to teaching the philosophy of the Tralfamadorians to the people of Earth.
