Lott=s wife may have been told not to look back at Sodom and Gomorrah, but after Dresden, everybody chose not to look back. Lott=s wife did look back, and what happened to her? She was turned to a pillar of salt. On page 22 it is said about the novel, AThis one is a failure, and had to be, since it was written as a pillar of salt.@ This makes a direct comparison between Billy and Lott=s wife. Vonnegut used this novel as his way of looking back at what had happened, and used Billy as his main character. What is being said is that Billy is no better than a pillar of salt, because he is Vonnegut looking back. He is no different from Lott=s wife, who looked back at the mass destruction she had witnessed. This brings up the question, is Billy one in the same people as Lott=s wife? This question can never be answered, but there are strong suggestions that might make many believe it is true. .
Although there is strong evidence to support the idea that maybe Billy is Lott=s wife, another person that Billy might be comparable to is a sum of all the characters from Kilgore Trout=s novels. As you know, Billy is a huge Kilgore Trout fan, and he even helps Kilgore Trout deliver his newspapers. As you know from the reading, the most common thing that Billy wants to discuss is Tralfamadore. Billy truly believes that the planet Tralfamadore does exist. The inhabitants of this planet are called Tralfamadorians. Kilgore Trout writes a novel called, A Gospel From Outer Space, and on page 108, Billy says, AIt was about a visitor from outer space, shaped very much like a Tralfamadorian, by the way.@ Does this mean Tralfamadore exists in only Billy=s mind? Also on page 201, Billy brings up another one of Kilgore Trout=s novels, The Big Board. He goes on to say that in the book two earthling people, one man and one woman, were abducted by aliens. These people were put on display for these extraterrestrials to view.