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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