Kurt Vonnegut Quotes

Kurt Vonnegut is able to tie together the idea that fate is predetermined with the ideas that life is meaningless, by pointing out that the actions people take in life are inconsequential. Billy Pilgrim sees this in his everyday life, as he travels through time, showing him that all the events in his life are already set, and therefore there is nothing he can do to change what will happen to him. This has its effects on his emotion as he is very distant from his own life, as he sees the events that occur around him to be insignificant, even going as far as to say he doesn’t really see the point in living. During a scene he points out a quote he has on the wall of his office that tends to bring comfort to people, the quote essentially says that there are some things in life you can change and some you can not and to be ok with that, but the narrator combats this with, “Among the things Billy Pilgrim could not change were the past, the present, and the future” (Vonnegut 60). …show more content…
This is shown when he sees the cripples selling magazine subscriptions that will never come and doesn’t report their exploitation; when he allows the plane to crash even when he knows everyone will die except him. This idea is also shown in the recurring line, “so it goes”, which is used every time someone dies (Vonnegut 1). This lack of emotion tied to something inherently heavy is extremely postmodern as it points out the fact you can not change that people must die, and also that it is not a big deal because everyone must die at some point in time. The aliens known as the Tralfamadorians, are the cause for this idea presented in the book of fatalism, and that events are unable to be changed, when Billy talks to them about why he is the person who meets them he gets the answer of, “ ‘Why you? Why us for that matter? Why