Slaughterhouse Five Analysis
Is Slaugherhouse Five a Lie?
Billy Pilgrim demonstrates all of the indicators of PTSD after struggling to deal with the pain and suffering that he went through. This story is actually about a man who went through traumatic experiences and is using aliens as a way to explain them.This lines up very well with the assessment of Billy Pilgrim’s mental health from his daughter. It is safe to say that Billy Pilgrim is at least suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Billy Pilgrim is the main character in the novel Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonegut. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD often comes after a highly traumatic event like war or similar events. Billy Pilgrim was subjected to all sorts of traumatic events. He was captured by …show more content…
This story is still a good learning tool that we should not disregard based on Billy Pilgrim’s mental state. The reason that the lessons from this story should not be disregarded based on the assumption that Billy has PTSD is that “Slaughterhouse Five” at it roots is an anti war book. And what does this story do? It shows that when going to war, the people involved may not have physical wounds, but that does not mean that those people do not have mental wounds. It shows how the horrors of fighting can distort the perception of life so far that a person can believe in time traveling aliens that like to bounce people around to different times in that person’s life. Vonnegut says, "There are no characters in this story and almost no dramatic confrontations, because most of the people in it are so sick and so much the listless playthings of enormous forces. One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters. But old Derby was a character now," (page 164). This shows how war can mess people up so much that they do not want to participate in life itself because of the experiences they
Billy Pilgrim demonstrates all of the indicators of PTSD after struggling to deal with the pain and suffering that he went through. This story is actually about a man who went through traumatic experiences and is using aliens as a way to explain them.This lines up very well with the assessment of Billy Pilgrim’s mental health from his daughter. It is safe to say that Billy Pilgrim is at least suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Billy Pilgrim is the main character in the novel Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonegut. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD often comes after a highly traumatic event like war or similar events. Billy Pilgrim was subjected to all sorts of traumatic events. He was captured by …show more content…
This story is still a good learning tool that we should not disregard based on Billy Pilgrim’s mental state. The reason that the lessons from this story should not be disregarded based on the assumption that Billy has PTSD is that “Slaughterhouse Five” at it roots is an anti war book. And what does this story do? It shows that when going to war, the people involved may not have physical wounds, but that does not mean that those people do not have mental wounds. It shows how the horrors of fighting can distort the perception of life so far that a person can believe in time traveling aliens that like to bounce people around to different times in that person’s life. Vonnegut says, "There are no characters in this story and almost no dramatic confrontations, because most of the people in it are so sick and so much the listless playthings of enormous forces. One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters. But old Derby was a character now," (page 164). This shows how war can mess people up so much that they do not want to participate in life itself because of the experiences they