Tralfamadorian Time Analysis

The novel Slaughterhouse five by Kurt Vonnegut may leave the reader with more questions than answers. This essay will answer some if not all of the questions the reader still has after reading the novel. Kurt brings up many questions with how he explains Tralfamadorian time as well as how he makes the reader look at human ideas and behavior. The theme of the novel will also be discussed both the main theme and a more personal one that has been chosen through careful examination of the text. The end of this essay will contain a personal reflection of the whole novel. This is only one interpretation of many.The first question the reader might have is, why does Kurt give the Tralfamadorians their own structure of time? Kurt gives the Tralfamadorians

Billy was in the firebombing of Dresden Germany which was very traumatic for him. This trauma much like Tralfamadorian time can happen at any moment and is always with him. With a Tralfamadorian time jump it is triggered by many things but, sleep is the main cause of the jumps. The main cause of flashbacks in PTSD is sleep so, there are many similarities between the two. The Tralfamadorian time was also included to show just how insignificant and foolish the human race is. This quote from the Tralfamadorians shows just how foolish we are “when a person dies he only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past, so it is very silly for people to cry at his funeral.” (page 26-27). This shows that humans are naive and still believe that time is constant. This is why Kurt Vonnegut gives the Tralfamadorians their own version of time as a way of showing PTSD while simultaneously showing how naive humans perception of time is.The second question the reader might have is, how is the novel satirical and did Kurt make the right criticisms of human nature? The novel gives many examples of satire like human’s perception of time, their ability to get too comfortable where they are at and human’s need for

Lastly as the violence of the war reaches its peak the bombing of Dresden Germany billy is starting to crack he has seen too much and it on the brink of losing control of his emotions, but he “zombies” through the rubble and burning bodies. It is only when Billy sees the terrible condition of the horses (page 196) that he is put over the edge and all of the things he has “zombied” through all rush back to him and he finally sheds his first tears of war. War was chosen because it is what unites all of Billy’s experiences and has the second greatest impact on his life.I have been exposed to two new types of thinking that of fate and the senselessness of war. I really took to heart that everything I do happens for a reason and I can 't change what is going to happen. This gives me a weird sense of calmness in new or scary situations like billy when he is getting his picture taken by the German photographer (page 58). When Billy is being paraded through the city in the film and he is looking at all the beautiful women and the children he has a smile on his face showing calm in a scary situation. My eyes were opened to how senseless war can get. Before reading this novel I trusted that the U.S always was in the right in their war decisions, but this has changed since I learned