Slaughterhouse Five Tralfamadore Essay

Billy’s use of Tralfamadore and the Tralfamadorians as a Coping Mechanism. The portrayal of war as heroic or glamorous leaves the true nature of war untold. In Slaughterhouse Five the novel follows Billy Pilgrim, who is a World War II veteran that experienced the bombing of Dresden. Forever traumatized, Billy suffers from flashbacks and false memories of aliens and their alien planet, Tralfamadore. Billy uses the planet and people of Tralfamadore to cope with the trauma he has experienced, their beliefs and sayings comfort Billy, which reveals Kurt Vonnegut’s theme, war destroys mental wellbeing, so veterans struggle with assimilating themselves back into society. During Billy’s kidnapping, Billy was welcomed by the Tralfamdorian crew, “‘Welcome aboard, Mr. Pilgrim,’ said the

Why us for that matter? Why anything?’” (97). The Tralfamadorian asking the question “why anything?” is Billy’s internal thoughts. Billy ponders why he had to survive in Dresden, why was he in war, why was the war even being fought? The Tralfamadorian mentioning how “why me?” is a very Earthling question to ask is a brief introduction into Tralfamadorian ideas. Billy is beginning the process of transitioning his Earthling ideas, which is where his trauma is, to the new Tralfamadorian ideas, where he can find peace. In the zoo on Tralfamadore, Billy describes the atrocities he experienced in War, the crowd was unmoved, “‘We know how the Universe ends--” said the guide, “and Earth has nothing to do with it, except that it gets wiped out, too” ‘How--how does the Universe end?’ said Billy. ‘We blow it up experimenting with new fuels for our flying saucers. A Tralfamadorian test pilot presses a starter button, and the whole universe disappears.’ So it goes,” (149). Billy gains another perspective on his problems, problems that remain on Earth, billions of miles away. The transition from his former Earthling beliefs continues to be replaced by the Tralafamadorian