Is Billy Pilgrim: fact or fiction?

In our opinion, Billy is not travelling through time but on the other hand he is a war veteran who is affected by the war's aftermath. Billy after serving in the war also suffered an airplane crash, and was the only one to survive. He claims that he was captured by a flying saucer after his accident. This idea is also revisited when his daughter with her Edwardian piano like legs stops trusting him, and mentions how he did not mention about Tralfamadore and the flying saucer before the accident. He gives a shrewd reply that the "time was not ripe."By: Parvathy & Puja
Billy is simply a veteran who relives certain moments of his life which he renders importance to, and through this paradox Vonnegut renders the uncertain nature of life. One should take life as it comes, and a small change in the natural order could disrupt the entire sequence. We do not have power over what we do or our impulse, but we do have control over what we think! This concept of being 'unstuck in time' renders Vonnegut a unique voice that distinguishes his voice from the rest. Vonnegut conveys the true thoughts of soldiers who have seen and surpassed death.

Humor is an almost physiological response to fear

We agree to this statement made by Vonnegut. We can see this in everyday life, when we respond to an irrational fear by laughing it off. We all remember the "ridiculous spell" in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban which was used to turn one's irrational fear into something ridiculous. When we are too tensed, we tend to laugh for no reason just to get that sense of nervousness off our system. Vonnegut has seen a lot througout his life from serving in the military and has surpassed a lot of emotional distress from bankruptcy to the suicide of his mother. All this changed him into someone who laughs and forgets his miseries and sorrows. This elimination of negativity gave Vonnegut his boost to succeed in life and to clear any obstacles presented in his life. As the Atlantic Monthly puts it, "Our finest black-humorist...we laugh in self-defense." Vonnegut should be everyone's role model considering how he looked at the "half-full" version of his life and strived to communicate to the public what war and victory meant to him.


By: Parvathy & Puja