Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut is one of his most popular books. It is composed of 3 themes which are antiwar, philosophical, and science fiction. Even though these three themes are throughout the novel, philosophy plays an important part in the novel. Philosophy gives that “push” for the themes of science fiction and antiwar to come together and make up the book the way it is. Philosophy is the understanding of knowledge, reality, and existence. For one to acknowledge the fact that Slaughterhouse-Five is an antiwar and science fiction novel, they must have a knowledgeable understanding of the book, and that is what philosophy is based on. Philosophy is also the logical examination of wisdom, morality, right/wrong, and good/evil. In
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Tralfamadorians believe that if you try to change your future, because you know what will happen, you won’t know if you really changed it because what you changed already changed, always changed, and will always change. This is explained when the Tralfamadorians tell Billy how the world ends, by the push of a button. “A Tralfamadorian test pilot presses a starter button and the whole Universe disappears…’If you know this’ said Billy, ‘isn’t there some way you can prevent it?’…’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.’” (117). The idea of not being able to change fate is perfectly shown in this example. It is impossible to prove that you can change fate because if you do change it, you will never know if you did or not because that will always happen. It is simply a big loop that everyone, humans and Tralfamadorians, are in. This is caused because fate is already decided. Since Billy can time travel, he has the advantage of seeing what will happen in his life in the future. He can see all the bad moments that’ll happen before they happen, but because the Tralfamadorians told Billy how fate works, he knows better. He knows that whatever he tries to change will have already happen, always happen, and will always happen. Therefore, there really is …show more content…
Throughout the book of Slaughterhouse-Five, the tragic events of death occur often. Billy, being involved in war, is used to death occurring often and this becomes a part of him. He is so used to it that it doesn’t hurt. For example, when his wife, Veronica, passed away Billy’s didn’t seem devastated. Billy is so use to fatalities he doesn’t think or enjoy his own happiness. Billy’s happiness is rarely explained in the novel and that is because Billy does not have any good moments in life, since he is always out in war. With happiness being rare, it is important to focus on it the most. “’That’s one thing Earthlings might learn to do, if they tried hard enough: Ignore the awful times, and concentrate on the good ones.’” (117). After Billy takes this in and applies it to his life, his perspective of life is in a more positive way. Billy time travels back to the time he and Veronica spent the night together. He enjoys the moment right then and there. This novel contains the message of antiwar, and with that message, it can be tied up to the philosophical message. Billy, who knows that war will never end, uses that thought as a positive way to help him cherish the good moments in life. War, in this novel, is described as unexplainable. It is so hard to explain the horror of war that Vonnegut uses the words, “Poo-Tee-Weet?” With Billy’s experience in war, it helps him enjoy every
Tralfamadorians believe that if you try to change your future, because you know what will happen, you won’t know if you really changed it because what you changed already changed, always changed, and will always change. This is explained when the Tralfamadorians tell Billy how the world ends, by the push of a button. “A Tralfamadorian test pilot presses a starter button and the whole Universe disappears…’If you know this’ said Billy, ‘isn’t there some way you can prevent it?’…’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.’” (117). The idea of not being able to change fate is perfectly shown in this example. It is impossible to prove that you can change fate because if you do change it, you will never know if you did or not because that will always happen. It is simply a big loop that everyone, humans and Tralfamadorians, are in. This is caused because fate is already decided. Since Billy can time travel, he has the advantage of seeing what will happen in his life in the future. He can see all the bad moments that’ll happen before they happen, but because the Tralfamadorians told Billy how fate works, he knows better. He knows that whatever he tries to change will have already happen, always happen, and will always happen. Therefore, there really is …show more content…
Throughout the book of Slaughterhouse-Five, the tragic events of death occur often. Billy, being involved in war, is used to death occurring often and this becomes a part of him. He is so used to it that it doesn’t hurt. For example, when his wife, Veronica, passed away Billy’s didn’t seem devastated. Billy is so use to fatalities he doesn’t think or enjoy his own happiness. Billy’s happiness is rarely explained in the novel and that is because Billy does not have any good moments in life, since he is always out in war. With happiness being rare, it is important to focus on it the most. “’That’s one thing Earthlings might learn to do, if they tried hard enough: Ignore the awful times, and concentrate on the good ones.’” (117). After Billy takes this in and applies it to his life, his perspective of life is in a more positive way. Billy time travels back to the time he and Veronica spent the night together. He enjoys the moment right then and there. This novel contains the message of antiwar, and with that message, it can be tied up to the philosophical message. Billy, who knows that war will never end, uses that thought as a positive way to help him cherish the good moments in life. War, in this novel, is described as unexplainable. It is so hard to explain the horror of war that Vonnegut uses the words, “Poo-Tee-Weet?” With Billy’s experience in war, it helps him enjoy every