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Time Quotes From Slaughterhouse Five

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Throughout the 20th century, especially after World War II and the Vietnam War, society explored the unseen and undervalued experiences of those that received neglect during major events that changed the common perception of time. Through "Slaughterhouse Five," Kurt Vonnegut, a former war prisoner in Dresden during World War II, expands on the ever-changing distortion of time by representing himself as Billy Pilgrim, a soon-to-be-optometrist and army rookie who has the ability to time-travel and view specific moments multiple times. In addition, Vonnegut exposes the confusing realities of everyday life, particularly the undeserved celebration of war, and the personalities of being stressed towards the obstacles of being human, offering contemporary …show more content…

"That's one thing Earthlings might learn to do. and concentrate on the good ones" serves as a crucial life lesson that assists Billy in maintaining his composure whenever he reviews a catastrophic scene of his life. The emphasis on 'Earthlings' highlights the Tralfamadorians' claimed superiority over the inhabitants of Earth when it comes to time management. This quote further expands on the undisturbed state and thought process of Billy Pilgrim when going through rough moments, showcasing his ability to focus on positive memories amidst the chaos surrounding him. Furthermore, “Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time” reveals the troubles of Billy’s travels throughout the fourth dimension, with the word ‘unstuck’ suggesting that Billy Pilgrim seldom stays in the present. This quote highlights Billy Pilgrim’s need to reflect on the future, and reinforces that this ability isn’t as beneficial as it was thought to have been. These quotes symbolise how, especially during the main conflicts like World War II, society has an addiction to concentrating only on setbacks and losses, leading to a distorted perception of time. Thus, Vonnegut provides reasoning for the unexplainable realities of life and the thoughts that shape themselves into a muddled perception of

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As author Isaac Bashevis Singer once said, “We must believe in free will, we have no choice” (Brainy Quote). While many philosophers do not believe in free will, most, like Singer, acknowledge its necessity for moral accountability, or “the [status of] a moral agent [being] blameworthy or praiseworthy for some particular action” (Eshleman). However, Vonnegut illustrates his beliefs that people have the capacity to change their perceptions and are morally obligated to do so. In Kurt Vonnegut’s antiwar novel, Slaughterhouse-Five, the protagonist, Billy Pilgrim, becomes “unstuck in time” as he revisits his traumatic World War II experiences. Vonnegut’s war experiences are similar, but his reactions are different.

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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.

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He is able to go into a fictional world that has nothing to do with war. When Billy was on Tralfamadore he learned lots of things, but one that helped Billy heal from war was the idea of free will. The Tralfamadorions told Billy that free will was not true because eveything was destined. This is because they viewed time with a broad perspective.

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Before Billy traveled to Tralfamadore and learned that their construct of time was nonlinear and that no one really truly died but existed continually after death. A saying the Tralfamadorians use when addressing death is “So it goes”. Which is a mediocre phrase to say when someone dies. Its interpreted meaning is like saying oh well. there is no remorse, sadness, or anger it is emotionless and stale just like Billy has become.

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everybody has their opinion on war and if it's good or bad in society. billy pilgrim's opinion on war it not about if it's good or bad but if it's necessary in human life. in the book slaughterhouse 5 billy's psychological and moral traits are shaped by his experience with war and the tralfamadorians Billy pilgrim is effected by his cultural surrounding that shape his psychological traits. when billy meets the tralfamadorians he learns many thing from their society and culture that changes his beliefs of life. one of the many things he learned was time is divided in particular moments not one constant phenomenon.

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Title: Slaughterhouse-Five Author: Kurt Vonnegut Thesis: Throughout KVs SF, he describes in matter of fact way the psychological impact/effects of the devastation of war and death upon Billy Pilgrim and how he handles it. Through the exploration of Billy Pilgrim’s detached and indifferent thoughts, Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five illustrates the coping mechanisms of a World War II veteran with post traumatic stress disorder.

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People are influenced by the events that surround them. Individuals transform into a product of their environment and experiences of the time. The literature and art often reflects the time period in which it is written in, and Vonnegut’s novel is no exception. The novel takes place during World War II, but is written during the time of the Vietnam War. With the Vietnam War, came a lot of anti-war propaganda.

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The surprising variations of the seriousness and light-heatedness allow Vonnegut to show effectively that war is absurd. The most important historical plot strand of Slaughterhouse-Five is Billy Pilgrim’s war experience which occurs during the last six months of World War II. This plot strand follows Billy through the battle of the Bulge and his presence as a POW during the bombing of Dresden, Germany. Vonnegut contrasts these documented milestones with incredible amounts of dramatic irony and dark humour.

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In the first line of the text we see Kurt Vonnegut use the metaphoric phrase, “Billy pilgrim has come unstuck in time.” And the passage “Billy has gone to sleep, a senile widower, and awakened on his wedding day. He walked through a door in 1955 and came out another one in 1941” The effect of this nonlinear narrative is to show how Billy Pilgrim’s experience of death is skewed randomly across the novel. These truly display how unnatural Billy's life which allows him to move in between different times of his life; Billy waking up on his wedding and then exiting the room to enter the war clearly reflects the global issue of death by showing the reader how the inevitability of death is sporadic and unpredictable which leaves the readers questioning the morality of one another and how to confront death.

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Furthermore, World War II has not only damaged him physically, but also mentally and has gone straight to his head. For the first time in the novel, Billy Pilgrim remembers a past event rather than time-travelling to it. Time-travel, it seems, would have made the event too immediate, too painful (Harris, Charles

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Vonnegut writes, “Billy says that he first came unstuck in time in 1944, long before the trip to Trafalmadore” (Vonnegut 30). This is a significant event in the novel as it describes Billy Pilgrim’s first encounter with the distortion of

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To them, time exists in the fourth dimension meaning that if someone is dead, they are only dead at that certain time, not all times. Upon arrival at Tralfamadore, Billy was put in a zoo enclosure by the aliens. This was meant to be similar to the time that Billy spent in prison in Germany during the war. Billy was humiliated both in prison and in the zoo enclosure on Tralfamadore. This demonstrates how Vonnegut challenges the concept of reality by creating a story that incorporates a different planet and aliens that don’t exist in real

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Vonnegut follows this up with "Billy is spastic in time, has no control over where he is going next", making it clear that the character isn't time travelling willingly. Due to this, the plot is nonlinear and oftentimes spastic in the way that the life experiences happen. Billy Pilgrim seems to floating around in the world, following wherever the wind takes him. The plot always follows Pilgrim's character and so, wherever the time takes Billy Pilgrim next, the reader is taken on the whimsical path with

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Time’s Arrow and Slaughterhouse-Five are both novels with an unconventional approach. By defying the expectation that such writing ought to be sombre, they deliver their own brand of mourning. Vonnegut interweaves the horrors of war with the seemingly trivial and absurd to create greater impact. The language, which is so often blunt and direct to the point of vulgarity, takes on a different character in the darker moments. It is transformed into something more childlike and delicate, suddenly capable of conveying the aftermath of a massacre with simple respect.

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