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Becoming "Un-Stuck" in Slaughter-House Five Essay Example

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Becoming "Un-Stuck" in Slaughter-House Five Essay Example
Becoming "Un-Stuck" in Slaughter-House Five

As we begin our epic journey in the science-fiction novel Slaughter-House Five, we are struck with an unfamiliar phrase. "Billy Pilgrim has become unstuck in time." But what does author Kurt Vonnegut mean by that? We soon discover that this idea of becoming "un-stuck in time" is major theme in this novel. Our protagonist, Billy, jumps to different points in his life at unexpected points in time. At time we find ourselves with him going through Germany in World War II. At other times, he is celebrating his wife's birthday or even telling the world publicly of his travels through time,. The theme of time used in this novel, is not necessarily in the chronological sense, but in the sense that we may need to think about that there is more than one possible way to view our lives by seeing them in different segments in random orders.

At time when Billy Pilgrim becomes un-stuck, he is taken to the mysterious planet of Tramalfalmador and is taught the ideology of the Tramalfadorians. The Tramalfadorians live in the fourth dimension, so when Billy is visiting their planet, he can only carry on a conversation with them, but he is incapable of seeing them. When he is first brought to the planet, their intentions are to see him mate with another human, female, from his planet Earth. He learns many things from the Tramalfadorians, such as only paying attention to good, quality things in life. So when Billy becomes unstuck in time on several occasions and is taken to his death, he does not let it despair him. He simply recognizes that his death is a part of his life, not necessarily a tragedy, just another moment in time. When Billy shares these experiences with his family, they seem to think that maybe it is due to the trauma from the war and that he is losing it, for lack of a better word.

In most war stories, our main character, would come out to be, a war here. A

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