Slaughterhouse Five Setting Analysis

Setting in stories can often affect a person’s behavior. In the story, Slaughterhouse-Five, there is a direct connection with the internal message and the setting. With this being said, the setting changes from different time periods of the main character’s (Billy Pilgrim) life to further perpetuate the theme’s concept. Vonnegut’s use of uncontrollable setting changes unveils a theme that suggests that things that will occur in life are unalterable. In the story, as Billy Pilgrim time travels back and forth between World War II and his later years of his life, he experiences death up close and realizes that timed death is inevitable. The Tralfamadorians, the aliens that kidnapped Billy, taught and engraved a philosophy that causes him to see the world a lot differently than his human counterparts. The “so it goes” idea which is expressed …show more content…
For example, a hobo-soldier dies unexpectedly on the prisoners’ boxcar, “so it goes”; Billy and his friend, Weary, were forced to wear wooden shoes during captivity, and Weary dies of gangrene mangled at his feet, “so it goes”(McFarlane). The setting that Vonnegut places Billy reflects the subtheme of death in his early years in war and his later years. In post war through the 50s and 60s, the same “so it goes” concept applies. His wife dies in route to a plane crash he survives, but his fellow workers did not, “so it goes”(McFarlane). Billy’s disregard for his friends and family’s death was influenced by the Tralfamadorians. In the book, Billy asks, “How does the Universe end?” A Tralfamadorian responds, “We blow it up.” Billy asks again, “Is there something you could of done to