Please complete this essay.
The prompt: Write a three-page analytical essay responding to one of the prompts. Examine one secondary source during your argument. Your essay must follow MLA formatting guidelines and include a Works Cited page. An outline is not required but recommended. The following prompts are to guide you with your writing. Does Billy Pilgrim actually encounter the alien race of the Tralfamadorians? Clearly state your theory and use evidence from the text to prove it.
This is What I have so far:
Slaughterhouse Five and the Nonexistence of the Tralphamadorians
Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five is a widely renowned anti-war and science fiction book written during the vietnam war, about WWI. The story follows protagonist Billy Pilgrim, who has experienced the horrors of war. He then encounters the alien race of the Tralfamadorians, who allegedly kidnap Pilgrim and take him to their home planet, Tralfamadore, and expose him to their nonlinear view of time. The novel is written in this nonlinear fashion, jumping through various phases of Billy’s life, ranging from his time as a prisoner of war to his adult life, his job as an optometrist, his wife and family, and his time with the Tralfamadorians. As a reader, the novel is thoroughly confusing, leaving many questions unanswered, including a questioning of the fact of if Billy even encounters the alien race. However, after the hell Pilgrim endures during the war, like countless other veterans, Billy exhibits symptoms of PTSD, and it seems his flashbacks and hallucinations of the Tralfamadorians are entirely symptoms of his disorder. Billy Pilgrim believes all these events and experiences to be true, however in reality none of these events occur and Pilgrim does not actually encounter the alien race of the Tralfamadorians.
The first fact that undermines the existence of the Tralfamodorians is the acknowledgement that by living through the Tralphamadorian’s nonlinear existence, experiencing the past present and future all at once, the possibility of free will becomes eliminated. This can be linked to Billy Pilgrim’s distraught mental state. As a prisoner of war, Billy experiences firsthand the brutal horrors of WWI, including the bombing of Dresden. Post war, Billy likely grapples with enormous amounts of guilt, guilt for surviving the bombings, guilt for being on the same side as the bombers, and guilt for living a prosperous life after the war. By adopting the Tralphamadorians nonlinear way of life, Billy is morally absolved from his guilt, because if one does not have free will, they cannot be held responsible for their behavior. The introduction of this extraterrestrial view on time through Billy’s PTSD hallucinations of the alien race are a subconscious means to cope with his trauma by relieving him of the guilt weighing on him from the war and his difficult experiences and choices.
provide him with a means to relieve
There are clear parallels between Billy’s time with the Tralfamadorians and the reality he faced as a prisoner of war… these flashbacks help him unlock the trama
Conclusion: This book was a vessel for Vonnegut to share a message that war is not only harmful physically through death and destruction, but that it can wreck a person emotionally and mentally as well. Billy Pilgrim’s mind was shattered during the war and never recovered. His mind was altered and he developed PTSD, with hallucinations and flashbacks affecting him long after the war was over.
Here are some more random notes and key points:
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Billy clearly exibits symptoms of PTSD (hallucinations and flashbacks)
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He has blocked up stuf in his mind, fantasies of the aliens help billy work out the horrors of his war experience
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Germans and Tralfs both make him strip, germans and tralfs both refuse to answer prisoner related things, germans confine him in slaughterhouse, tralfs confine him in a zoo (clear parellels)
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But in the fantasy version Billy can rewrite these painful events. Enjoy his body for the first time w tralphs vs being ridiculed and made to wear a womens coat as a prisoner. Literally desired by a 20 yr old pornstar.
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Tralph veiw on past present and future all existing at once denies the possibility of free will (If one doesnt have free will they cant be responsible for their behavior, therefore with the tralfs Billy is morally ebsolved bc he had no choice)
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Marrying Valencia is a symptom of his crazy disease? Hes making bad choices. But he does good things, hes an optomotrist, provider, He feels gilt for the war like survivers guilt for surviving the bombings, Gilt for being on the same side as the bombers, and gilt for having a good life after
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By adopting the tralphs no free will view, he cant blame himself for any of that
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Narrative mixes fiction and history, like billys fantasy vs reality
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Tralph fiction correlates to social media, reading breif moments (all things at once)
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Billy’s desire to relive the past is deeply human, a way to deal w loss
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So it goes- billys mind is wrecked by trama, he can’t comprehend
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Billys mind has been thourogly wrecked by war and this is ow hes coping