Ms. Student
Mr. Scandrett
English 12th
May 13, 2012
Fatalism in Slaughterhouse-Five
The events that happen in our life are all the effects of the choices that we make. One can choose to do something and this choice will affect the course of their life. Everything in life has been established and people simply choose a path that they wish to follow. There are many outcomes from a choice that one makes, but only one course will occur. Despite all these choices that we make there is one inevitable thing that we can never change and its death. The novel “Slaughterhouse-Five” by Kurt Vonnegut, tells the reader that in order to face death one must embrace fatalism.
“Slaughterhouse-Five” relates the entire life of Billy Pilgrim. He is a normal man that amazingly has the ability to time travel. He jumps to different moments in his life and has no control over this extraordinary ability. The wonders of his life are not limited to time traveling. He is abducted by aliens and taken to their planet, Trafalmadore, where he learns a whole new philosophy on time and death. This philosophy eventually helps Billy cope with life after the devastating fire-bombing of Dresden, where tens of thousands of people died. In this novel, Billy learns how to embrace fatalism and accept his death without remorse. His acceptance of this new philosophy is seen through the following quote “I Billy Pilgrim, the tape begins, will die, have died and always will die on February 13, 1976 (Vonnegut, 70).” He then proceeds to describe other details of his death. Even though he knows how and when his death takes place he makes no attempt to prevent it. Billy Pilgrim learns through his experience that fatalism is inevitable.
A major plot of this novel is the firebombing of Dresden. The reader would expect to have some sort of hero in the story. On the contrary the reader is presented with Billy Pilgrim. He is weak, fearful, incompetent and shy. He is a weak character in mind and in body. In attempt to teach him how to swim his father throws him into a pool but Billy prefers to sink rather than swim, revealing his weak character and mind; he makes no attempt to even try to swim. (43) He is weak in body that he is described as a filthy flamingo. (33) “Saved your life again...Weary said to Billy […] It was absolutely necessary that cruelty be used because Billy would not do anything to save himself. Billy wanted to quit (34).” Through this quote one can see how weak in mind and body Billy is. Billy did not have enough will power to continue on with the hardships presented to him. He needed a constant force to push him to try and work harder. The novel presents the reader with a weak character with a purpose. This reveals how even the weakest person can eventually face death.
The novel is written in a very unique manner. It has no regard for chronological order; there is no linear progression. Everything is presented as a whole. Regardless of the fragmented format Billy Pilgrim's life the book still ends the same way and fulfills its purpose. This reveals that everything is already planned and chronological order has no effect on how things result. In the beginning of the novel the ending is revealed to the reader. “It ends like this: Poo-tee-weet (22) ?” This shows that regardless of the events that take place, the end of the novel will end the same way. The ending of the novel has been set and nothing can change it. The following quote, “He came slightly unstuck in time, saw the late movies backwards, then forwards again. It was a movie about American bombers in Second World War and the gallant man who flew it (74).” proves that the order in which events happen have no influence on the bigger occurrences. No matter how Billy Pilgrim views the movie, the purpose of the movie was to show the war to its viewers.
The war in the novel symbolizes death and the inevitability of change. Billy Pilgrim had no choice but to go to war. “The bombing of Dresden was a great tragedy none can deny […] ponder on the fate of Dresden, where 135,000 people died as the result of an attack with conventional weapons (93).” This quote shows us a part of the war and the number of casualties from the bombing. This event is something that nobody had the power to change. As much as people disagree with it, it still happened. The war represents the events in life that are inevitable. Despite the efforts that people make, the war was still bound to happen. At first Billy Pilgrim tried to avoid and even escape, but as he time traveled and spent time with the Trafalmadorians he learned that change was inevitable. Billy does not know why there must be such atrocious disaster, but he still makes no objections to it, revealing his acceptance of the things that happen.
Another symbol in the novel are the horses. “[…] that the horses' mouths were bleeding, gashed by bits, that the horses' hooves were broken, so that every step meant agony, that the horses were insane with thirst. The Americans treated their form of transportation as though it were no more sensitive than a six-cylinder Chevrolet (96).” The horses represent how people embrace fatalism. The horses were in terrible pain from the way they were treated yet they simply fulfilled their purpose as means of transportation. They accepted the pain and the suffering that they were going through. Billy Pilgrim had no idea why the war had to take place; he simply obeyed the commands that he was told just like the horses did what they were ordered to do. Billy learned to accept the war as it was without complaining or questioning it. The same way, the horses simply accepted the pain that they were going through. People must simply accept the circumstances because anything that they do to try to change the events will be useless.
The prayer on Montana Widhack's, a mistress of Billy on the Trafalmadorian planet, locket is another example of symbolism. It said the following “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom always to tell the difference (102). ” This reveals that people want to have the chance to choose their fate and take control over their lives. Although people want to be able to take control they cannot. Every choice that they make has already been decided for them, it is not a choice, and the choice that people make is just an illusion.
The phrase “Poo-tee-weet (105)?” is the last phrase in the book. It symbolizes the end of life, a fate that everyone has. It represents the speechlessness of the people. There is nothing interesting or good to say about war and all negative talk about war is also useless. It will not change anything, because the war has already been destined to happen. “We know how the Universe ends […] A Trafalmadorian test pilot presses a starter button, and the whole Universe disappears. […] He has always pressed it, and he always will. We always let him and we always will let him. The moment is structured that way (57).” The Trafalmadorians know that it is not possible to prevent the destruction of the Universe so they simply allow this course of action to happen. The death of everything is certain so there is no point stopping it from happening. No one can completely understand death. Despite the many encounters with death, Billy still cannot fully understand why it happens. Billy only faces death after he's been in Trafalmadore and learned their philosophy on time and death.
The death of many characters in the book is ironic. “He […] drafted for military service in the Second World War. His father died in a hunting accident (24).” This passage shows death of Billy Pilgrim's father is ironic, because he is shot during a hunting trip. His father is the predator during this hunting trip but he ends up dying. Billy is overcoming the death of a loved one while at war. He has to kill in order to survive but is also hurt by the death of his father. This irony shows that nobody has control of what happens to them. Billy did not have any control over what happened to him and fate took him to war right after his father dies. Another ironic thing that occurs is that Billy Pilgrim survives the war, despite his weakness. Billy survives the war by taking refuge in a meat house. The location in which he takes refuge is a place where killing and death also take place and this is the place where he finds safety. His survival reveals that fate had other things planned for him. He survived the war to tell other people about his adventure in Trafalmadore. Through the ironies in the death of the characters, it is revealed that no one has the ability to change anything.
The acceptance of death throughout the book is shown through the phrase “so it goes” This phrase is mentioned after every death in the story. “There used to be a dog Spot, but he died. So it goes (32).” “There were hundreds of corpse mines operating by and by. […] But then the bodies rotted and liquefied, and the stink was like roses and mustard gas. So it goes (105).” These two passage show the all the deaths in the novel were considered equal, whether it was a natural death, an accidental or an intentional death. This phrase allows the reader to accept the death as something unavoidable and as something normal. At the same time though the repetition of the phrase allows the reader to see all the death that occurs and the inevitability of death.
Through Billy Pilgrim and his experience in the war and in Trafalmadore the reader can see that everything in life has been predestined and one must accept the fact that nothing can be changed. Since everything has been predestined, then death is simply another part of life. Billy Pilgrim comes to realize this which is why he is at peace. He faces death and makes no attempt to change it. Once a person realizes that they can do nothing to change the events that are to happen, they will also be able to accept death much more easily.
Grammar 17/20
Intro 10/10
Body 10/10
Conclusion 10/10
Analysis 33/35
Critical Thinking 15/15
95.
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