In Kurt Vonnegut's novel Slaughterhouse Five he presents the Tralfamadorians as an influence on Billy for the belief of the idea that fate and free will doesn't exist but the existence of the Tralfamadorians is questionable, so is the idea of predestined life. "Here we are trapped in the amber of this moment" (77). The Tralfamadorians see and believe life and the actions you decide are a straight line, unchangeable and predestined life. This idea greatly affects Billy, this is what he believes. "Among the things Billy Pilgrim could not change were the past, the present, and the future" (60). He is turned into a depressed human that believes that if life has to offer anything that it will offer it without his help. Kurt Vonnegut suggests that the idea of no free will and predestined life can affect any human as it did to Billy. He displays that beliefs are strong tool that can change humans. .
There are several details to lead the reader to thinking the Tralfamadorians are nonexistent. Such as the framed prayers on Billy's office. The same words reappeared on Montana Wildhack's locket. This could be a kind of deja vu. .
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition caused by a life threatening event. Some of the symptoms include flashbacks that last for minutes to days, feeling emotional, hopelessness for future, hearing or seeing things, and easily being startled. All of the symptoms listed can be found in Billy. Kurt Vonnegut includes the uncertainty of Tralfamadorians to show that free will and fate are just ideas that humans believe to provide answers for the unexplained, like religion. People believe in religion to answer questions such as why and how life started. Thus Kurt Vonnegut displays fate and no free will to be just as imaginary as Tralfamadorians.
Humor in Humans and World War II.
In the novel Slaughterhouse 5, Kurt Vonnegut uses black humor to reveal the darker side of humans and World War II.