The postmodernist fiction we've been reading so far has certainly required some suspension of disbelief. Ragtime flaunted its fictitious historical meetups, forcing the reader to accept them as factual within the world of the novel. Mumbo Jumbo, even more so, constantly invited the reader to believe in the slew of fictitious or impossible elements of the story, like the secret societies and immortal beings and whatever else. Likewise, once aliens were introduced in Slaughterhouse Five, I had to decide whether or not to take their existence for granted within the novel itself. It's not always very easy to discern what's intended to be real or not real within the world of a work of fiction.
Obviously the aliens are figments of Vonnegut's imagination, and he doesn't try to hide that by giving them any sort of scientific credibility. Still, for most of the novel, I was fairly convinced that they did exist within the world of Slaughterhouse Five. It wasn't until I was toward the end that I really started to get the impression that they were only the delusions of a sad, damaged, middle-aged man. Chapter nine is where this is especially demonstrated, as, immediately following his traumatic brain injury and still under observation, he wanders into an adult bookstore where he begins to read The Big Board. I doubt it's much coincidence that it's about "an Earthling man and woman who were kidnapped by extra-terrestrials" and "put on display in a zoo on a planet called Zircon-212." Only moments later, he catches a glimpse of the pornstar Montana Wildhack and an article speculating of her disappearance. His broken mind immediately latches onto these random details of his surroundings and used them to help craft a new story of himself.
It seemed fairly evident to me at this point that poor Billy is having delusions that are drastically upsetting his memory. Nearly all of his time travel episodes that he describes throughout the novel only take him to points preceding the brain injury and his daughter shortly afterward asking, "What are we going to do with you?" His memory is disrupted and jumbled, and he makes sense of it all by saying he became "unstuck in time" and was, in a completely unrelated event, abducted by aliens. This works well to explain Billy's passivity and reluctance to try and affect any outcomes he's sure will happen during his time travels. His own death, the only event he time travels to beyond the events immediately following his plane crash (I think this is true, someone please fact check me if I'm incorrect here), is almost certainly a figment of his own imagination. Unfortunately, he'll probably meet his end in a decidedly less dramatic way down the line.
I definitely believe that Billy is a very tragic character, and certainly an interesting choice of personality with which to frame Vonnegut's story.
That's an interesting take on Billy's origins. In that way it makes Vonnegut's novel completely believable since it's the memories of a delusional man and not actual science-fiction. Looking at the book this way radically changes how you view everything. Personally, the "unstuck in time" sci-fi option is more compelling because it explains and justifies Billy's passive actions throughout his lifetime. Otherwise, Billy becomes much more of an anti-hero rather than an anti-war character since he actively does nothing to do anything. With the 4D view of the world, it makes sense that he has the Tralfamadorian perspective of no free will and complete futility of action.
ReplyDeleteThe tralfamadorians being a creation of Billy's mind seems to be the most "normal" interpretation of what's happening, and one that I agree with. Perhaps that would push Vonnegut's stance with war by showing the possible effects of damaged thinking, along with all the events depicted. Of course, completely different perspectives are available and just as plausibly true in this context.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very compelling approach to this book I know I certainly hadn't thought of. Throughout the past few books we've read, it's been more plausible, and perhaps we've been more willing to believe what's going on in the book because the concepts weren't completely ridiculous and we were all at least somewhat familiar with them. Personally, I believed that Billy really did go to Tralfamadore and all of these things happened to him, but looking at it this way, it seems to be a result of old age or PTSD. He is trying to cope with the horrors he saw in Dresden by introducing a new alien race that controlled everything he did. He doesn't want to believe people alone could be this horrible to one another. Whatever the case may be, knowing how this book could be seen makes me want to read it again with this idea in mind.
ReplyDeleteI think the fact that Billy only becomes unstuck in time after the plane crash is also significant because Billy has at this point returned home and is grappling with the past events of the war and trying to interpret some purpose from them. In this vain struggle, Billy feels a loss of identity, a sense that all of his suffering has been for naught, and unconsciously invents an identity/narrative for himself.
ReplyDeleteYour phrasing, a "delusional middle aged man", makes me think about the frame narrative. I kept forgetting that The Children's Crusade was supposed to be a book within a book, a book written by the narrator of the first chapter who certainly doesn't seem at peace with his world nor particularly happy. The characterization of Billy you pose here seems exactly like the kind of character that man would write.
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