Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut is a novel that makes no sense in itself; yet, when put into context individually with today’s events, or life’s events in general, makes more sense then if it were clearly spelled out within the pages. Vonnegut introduces protagonist Billy Pilgrim, a schizophrenic man-child, as a unique character who has the ability to become unstuck in time, which means that he can uncontrollably drift from one part of his life to another and “the trips aren’t necessarily fun.” (Vonnegut 23) Travelling between his experience as a prisoner of war in World War II to his suburban family life in the 1950s and 1960s, and his experience as a human specimen in an alien zoo on a distant planet, Billy seemingly has no control over these transitions. Billy handles the tragedies and horrors that surround and threaten to overwhelm him by stopping the clock and moving, in flashbacks or flashforwards, …show more content…
He was a “funny-looking child who became a funny-looking youth-- tall and weak, and shaped like a bottle of Coca-Cola.” (Vonnegut 23) Billy attended night sessions at the Ilium School of Optometry for one semester before being drafted for military services for World War II. He then saw service with the Infantry in Europe, and was taken prisoner by the Germans. After his honorable discharge from the Army in 1945, Billy again enrolled in the Ilium School of Optometry. During his senior year there, he became engaged to the daughter of the founder and owner of the school, and then suffered a nervous collapse. He was treated in a veteran’s hospital and was given shock treatments and released. He married his fiancee, finished his education, and was set up in business in Ilium by his father-in-law. He then became rich and had two