Slaughterhouse-5 is very different from most fictional books I read. Usually there is a main character who develops or solves a conflict throughout the story. For the most part of Slaughterhouse-5, this is not the case. In fact, Billy Pilgrim seems to be the opposite what you would expect out of a main character in a war novel. He seems completely neutral about everything, and other people even have to tell him what to do. Really, he is more of a bystander during the war scenes. Part of this could be because of his unique situation of being unstuck in time. You could argue that it’s impossible for him to have any character development, since he already knows everything that will happen in his life. Vonnegut has reasons other than this, making Billy’s detachment dare readers to shrug off all the deaths as well, and seeing the evils of war more clearly.
Despite his typical neutrality, Billy has an experience in chapter 8 that makes him self-conscious about his past. Seeing the barbershop quartet sing at his wedding anniversary celebration shakes Billy, and he recalls the memory of seeing the four German guards after the bombing of Dresden, standing together with their mouths agape. This realization of past trauma shows more self awareness in Billy than has been shown in the rest of the book. Furthermore, it’s interesting that when he remembers this trauma, he doesn’t travel in time, but stays rooted in the present. This moment is one of Billy’s sanest moments, since he is remembering something that actually happened, rather than taking the choice of traveling in time, which might make the memory seem less realistic to some readers. Realizing the lives lost in the war helps Billy grieve more openly and discuss it with Montana Wildhack. In contrast, earlier in the book Billy was not able to talk about his war experience to his wife on their wedding night. Now, understanding his own experience, he is able to talk about it to others. So, even though Billy is still not the quintessential war hero, he still changes somewhat during Vonnegut’s story.
So I guess the real question is, why does Vonnegut choose to portray Billy this way after making him seem so detached the rest of the novel?
I actually hadn't thought about the barbershop quartet moment that much until reading this post, and I think it's interesting how Billy seems to suddenly become more normal and human. This obviously isn't one of those war novels where Billy enters as a pathetic nobody and comes out this hero who everyone praises, but I think by making Billy feel more emotions, even with his knowledge of time and free will and all that, Vonnegut is showing that war changes people, even if it seems unlikely. In a war novel, I assume that the change would be very dramatic, but in this anti-war novel, it's more subtle, but probably more realistic as well. It's not something I immediately noticed, but it's a really interesting point.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right that Billy changes throughout the novel. True, it's much more subtle than in other novels (especially those we like to call the "hero's journey"), but the transformation Billy experiences after hearing the barbershop quartet is a good example of when we can see this change. I also think Billy seems to change with regard to his newfound desire to tell the world about Tralfamodore. It looks like this desire came about long after he first got unstuck in time, but interesting enough, came right after the plane crash where he heard the songs of another barbershop quartet...
ReplyDeleteBilly definitely does change, and I think a lot of it is because of his exposure to Tralfamadorian philosophy. By accepting that free will is non-existent, for example, Billy is able to understand that no one chose to kill everyone in Dresden, but rather that the moment was structured that way, and it restores at least some of his faith in humanity. Overall, the Tralfamadorians gave him a much bigger picture of the world, and this probably helped him come to terms with the horrors of WWII.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I thought the scene with the barbershop quartet was a very touching one. Throughout the whole novel, Billy tries to detach himself from his memories of the war through his newfound Tralfamadorian philosophy that all of time is set in stone. It's clear though through this scene that he's still very much connected to those experiences and affected by them, even though he really doesn't seem to want to be. This is where his trauma seems most evident in the whole book.
ReplyDeleteI think this scene is supposed to show some growth in Billy as he ages. If this was a conventional story it would make perfect sense that as Billy ages and gains more experience with his time "travel", that he would become better at control it. However, in this story, the concept of aging doesn't quite make since. Therefore, I think Vonnegut is using this scene as a way to critique the Tralfamadorian view of time and give Billy some agency.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jack, in the sense that the scene with the quartet shows Billy's growth. Going off of that, I also think that Billy developing so late in the story is just another nod to the sense of disjointed time throughout the book. I say this because in regular books, the development would be gradual and linear. Here, however, the growth seems rather sudden and later in the book.
ReplyDeleteDoes Billy really age though? Given his belief in "Tralfamadorian time", there would be no singular age of an object at a given time. I suppose even without considering time, it does show growth in Billy as a character. Also, I do find it interesting that this was the only time he actually reflected back on a memory in a normal sense instead of jumping back in time.
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