Slaughterhouse Five

My post is related to the free-write from Thursday.

Authors often modify the structure of stories using the perception of time. One such novel that employs this effect is Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. The protagonist, Billy Pilgrim, is abducted by aliens called the Tralfamadorians. Pilgrim then becomes unstuck in time, causing him to experience random events in his life in no particular order. Vonnegut uses this in order to show an idea called non-determinism, that one has no choice in their life. The idea emphasizes the tragedy in Pilgrim’s life and the traumatic events including World War II that have caused him to become desensitized. Thus we as the reader jump from World War II to an alien abduction to the mundane life of the Pilgrim as an optometrist. Vonnegut contrasts the quotidian to the near deadly and science-fiction adventures of Billy Pilgrim.