Free Will

"If I hadn't spent so much time studying Earthlings", said the  Tralfamadorian, "I wouldn't have any idea what was meant by free will. I've visited thirty-one inhabited planets in the universe, and I had studied reports on one-hundred more. Only on earth is there any talk of free will." The aliens think everything is predetermined and they have no control over their own lives. They point out how this is unique to humans. Billy thinks about this and if people really have free will, and if they do, how can they do such terrible things like the war that he was in. Billy brings up a valuable question about if people do really have free will. And if we do, do we control our lives? Do we control our own destiny? Or, is everything planned out for us? Past, present and future.

Dreams

Billy has lots of dreams and or hallucinations. PTSD could explain his time-travels and meeting aliens. "When Barbara left, slamming the door behind her, Billy traveled in time to the zoo on Tralfamadore again." (132). When billy closes his eyes and begins to drift off into sleep is when he experiences time-traveling.

Time-travel

Now Billy closes his speech as he closes every speech - with these words: "Farewell, hello, farewell, hello." (142). He is referencing his time travel and how he is there in that moment in time and then is gone and then back again.

Delusions

There have been at least three characters in the book that have had some form of hallucinations or delusions. Billy, Weary and Wild Bill. Billy and Weary were in the creek bed when BIlly had a hallucination. "Billy Pilgrim went on skating, doing tricks in sweat-socks, tricks that most people would consider impossible - making turns, stopping on a dime and so on. The cheering went on, but its tone was alerted as the hallucination gave way to time-travel.". They are having these hallucinations because of the tragic things that have been going through and all the near death experiences are making them go mad.

Lack of Brotherhood

Throughout the war, we see a lack of brotherhood among the American prisoners. An example of this is when the prisoners are on the boxcar and Billy Pilgrim is trying to find a place to sleep. As he tries to lay down other prisoners tell him "Not with me you son of a bitch" and to "get the hell out of here." (78) This hostility towards fellow comrades is surprising, seeing that they're on the same team and going through the same struggle.

Billy's Happiness

Billy seems unthrilled by every part of life. He goes through life with little desire to live and carry on, and could care less what happens to him. This is shown when Billy is being kept by the Tralfamadorians. He is kept in captivity in a zoo, on display with no escape, yet his happiness remains unchanged. When asked if he was happy, his answer was "About as happy as i'd be on earth." (114) You'd think that someone kidnapped from their planet and taken away from their family and friends would at least show a little change in happiness, but Billy stays content, his mood unchanged.

Epigraph

The epigraph reads: "The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes. But the little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes." The only other mention of the epigraph comes on page 197, as Vonnegut uses his own voice to reason why this was included. He says that Billy cried very little even though he saw many things worth crying about, and in that respect he resembled the Christ of Carol. I think it is interesting that Billy often cried due to not seeing the point in living, but he would not cry after horrific experiences like the bombing of Dresden. It seems that those times where he earned the right to weep, he would not.
Do you see a connection between Billy Pilgrim and the Christ of Carol?

Tralfamadorian template, similar to Vonnegut's

This quote about the Tralfamadorians novels connects to the structure of Slaughterhouse Five, and how the book jumps around from moment to moment with no clear beginning, middle, or end. 
"There isn’t any particular relationship between the messages, except that the author has chosen them carefully, so that, when seen all at once, they produce an image of life that is beautiful and surprising and deep. There is no beginning, no middle, no end, no suspense, no moral, no causes, no effects. What we love in our books are the depths of many marvelous moments seen all at one time." 
This template of the Tralfamadorians seems to be the same one used by Vonnegut in the novel. Vonnegut jumps around from moment to moment, trying to create a system of moments seen all at once. But like Billy, Vonnegut doesn't have the Tralfamadorian ability to pick and choose these moments, which could be why Vonnegut sees his book as a failure. He believes he was unable to create something beautiful out of many tragic moments.
Do you think Vonnegut was successful in relaying a message within his novel?
P.S 
My apologies, i've had a pretty bad concussion the last 2 weeks, and I was directed not to have screen time, which is why i'm having to do all of my blog posts now. 

Probability of Dresden Getting Bombed According to the Englishmen

One quote that made me think twice was one in Chapter Six that talked about the probability of Dresden getting bombed. While the quote speaks otherwise, we all know that Dresden does get bombed.

"You needn't worry about bombs, by the way. Dresden is an open city. It is undefended, and contains no war industries or troop concentrations of any importance" (146). Ironically, Dresden in fact does get bombed which made me think about why Vonnegut might have included this in the novel. The first obvious reason Vonnegut may have decided to include this passage is the foreshadowing. Another possible reason I thought of is that Vonnegut himself was told that before he traveled to Dresden. The last reason I could come up with is that the Englishmen knew somehow that Dresden would be bombed but were trying to make the Americans feel better.

Why do you think Vonnegut included the quote? And, since we know Dresden does get bombed  and it even says so on the back of the book, why do you think that the quote was worth Vonnegut putting in the book?

February 13th

The firebombing of Dresden took place on February 13th, 1945 and as the book tells us, killed 135,000 people. Billy and other prisoners of war lived through the bombing. The date February 13th is important because it is also the day Billy dies.

"I, Billy Pilgrim, the tape begins, will die, have died, and always will die on February thirteenth, 1976" (141). Billy dies exactly 31 years after the firebombing of Dresden. I found this to be a little ironic because he lived through the bombing but died in Chicago after addressing a large crowd about the true nature of time. While Billy did not die in the war he did die because of the war as he was shot by Paul Lazzaro or someone Lazzaro had hired. Obviously, the choice to make Billy die the same day Dresden was bombed was a conscious decision made by Kurt Vonnegut. 

So, why did Vonnegut decide to have Billy be shot on the same day Dresden was bombed? And, what significance does it have if any?

Death

Death is a topic that Earthlings and Tralfamadorians disagree on in the novel. Death is seen to be at the end for Earthlings but for Tralfamadorians death is simply another moment. Since Billy can come unstuck in time he was able to experience his own death.

"So Billy experienced death for a while. It is simply violet light and a hum. There isn't anybody else there. Not even Billy Pilgrim is there" (143). I found this quote significant because it reminded of when Billy was kidnapped by the Tralfamadorians. 

"The light from the portholes was a pulsing purple. The only noise it made was the owl song" (76). The purple lights in both situations leads me to think that the Tralfamadorians don't think death is significant. Billy saw and heard the same things when he was abducted as well as when he died. The connection between these two moments reinforce the Tralfamadorians feelings toward death and time in general.

Once Billy died, is he still able to relive moments where he is alive again like the Tralfamadorians or is he truly dead as the Earthlings would believe?

Free will and predestination

One thing in this book is certain, and that's that the book Slaughterhouse Five talks about free will.

One example is the novel's catchphrase "So it goes", always said by the narrator as we are told about death in any circumstance. We are told that the phrase "So it goes" is a Tralfamadorian motto, which expresses a general sense of resignation to the way things are. As in, Billy realizes the person or people who have died would've die that way anyway, because that's their destiny. You could also say Vonnegut uses to explain all the needless death and violence Billy Pilgrim has witnessed.

You could also say that Billy hides behind the Tralfamadorian's views of predestination in that he feels a kind of surviver's guilt. His mind could've created these aliens and the prospect of a written fate to hide the fact that he was on the side that willingly dropped a bomb on Dresden and that he survived. To hide behind this destined fate would mean he isn't guilty of this, although he isn't, since the book says that he couldn't have harmed anyone. "He was powerless to harm the enemy or to help his friends" (30).

Although you could see this book hinting at the prospect of how fate might already be determined. "The dog, who had sounded so ferocious in the winter distances, was a female German shepherd. She was shivering. Her tail was between her legs. She had been borrowed that morning from a farmer. She had never been to war before. She had no idea what game was being played" (52). Much like Billy, the German soldier's dog was drafted into war and was pretty unhappy about it. The cold and impersonal way both Billy Pilgrim and the German Shepherd get put into situations that make them uncomfortable highlights the fact that war is about the opposite of free will. The same is seen when the Tralfamadorians abduct Billy, thus taking away his power of choice, and probably was what changed his views on fate as he embraces the Tralfamadorian way.

But when we dwell on the controversy of free will, that also leaves us with a few questions of the book. So in the novel, is anyone able to exercise free will or are all things predetermined?