Billy Pilgrim Sane or Insane Essay - 1144 Words

SlaughterHouse-Five is a book about a man named Billy Pilgrim who is stuck in time, and constantly travels throughout different events in his life. Billy accepts different values and sees traumatic and morbid events differently than others. Billy accepts a way of life that is not perceivable to other humans. Many would argue that Billy’s experiences make him insane, but Billy’s experiences with the Tralfamadorians actually allows him to preserve his sanity, and stay a very intelligent man. Many argue that Billy is completely insane. Their position may include the fact that Billy never mentioned the planet Tralfamadore before he got into the plane crash. This is a great point because an event such a plane crash could very well leave†¦show more content†¦Veronica kept going towards the hospital anyway. When Barbara arrived at the hospital, she passed out from the fumes, and later died. Billy almost overlooks this tragic event. He just goes on with his life. This does not make him insane, he just believes in a different way of life and abides by that. Later in the book, Billy is describing to his daughter, Barbara, what it is like to live the Tralfamadorian way and what their ideals are like. Billy is explaining to her why we don’t know about them, and arguing with her. She snidely asks him that if he knew about the plane crash, then why didn’t he say anything? Billy simply replies â€Å" I didn’t think the time was ripe† (Vonnegut, 38). Ripe is an interesting word choice. He uses it to imply that if he had done something about it, it would be like eating an unripe fruit, it isn’t meant to be done.The word choice really makes an impression on the reader. You think to yourself, â€Å"when has the time not be ripe for me?† It’s an exceptional quote that makes you think about your own life choices.The Tralfamadorian ways teach that you cannot change the bad times, so just focus on the good ones. Billy is human, and he believes what the Tralfamadorians teach. Some may argue that a human, receiving information from super intelligent aliens, may cause insanity, and that no human is meant to live in four dimensions. Billy Pilgrim handles thisShow MoreRelatedBilly Pilgrims Presentations of Metal Illness in Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five1286 Words   |  5 PagesBilly Pilgrim, the main character of Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse Five, would not be described as an ordinary person by any standards. Billy is an optometrist, prisoner of war, World War II veteran, a zoo display for aliens, and a frequent time traveler. The character Billy is a controversial subject, because readers cannot discern whether he is sane and has fantastical experiences or is insane and deserves to be in a mental hospital. Billy Pilgrim may be many things, but is Billy simplyRead MoreSlaughterhouse Five and Hamlet1701 Words   |  7 Pageschallenging. When comparing two characters, it is harder to see the similarities than the differences. Hamlet and Billy Pilgrim are two different characters, from two different centuries, from two different countries, from two different worlds, and yet their search for the meaning of life was astonishingly similar. The search for the meaning of life becomes quite difficult for Hamlet and Billy Pilgrim. They both experience horrific adventures in their lives along with insanity which their personalities attractRead More Slaughterhouse Five Essay1088 Words   |  5 Pagesinstitutions, Billy Pilgrim turns to the Tralfalmadorian concept of time. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Billy Pilgrim has been through many cruelties in his life. As a child his own father was cruel to him. They had gone to the Y.M.C.A. to teach Billy how to swim. A horrible, traumatic, event that would stay with Billy for the rest of his life. â€Å"Little Billy was terrified, because his father had said Billy was going to learn to swim by the method of sink-or –swim. His father was going to throw Billy intoRead More Kurt Vonneguts Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions3313 Words   |  14 Pagesbook, would incorporate this idea of determinism into its theme. Slaughterhouse-Five is about a man named Billy Pilgrim who becomes â€Å"unstuck in time† (Vonnegut 29). His experiences in the Second World War – namely, the fire-bombing of Dresden, where a generally peaceful and pretty German city was wiped off the map by an Allied aerial assault – leave him mentally disjointed and not quite sane. Of course, nothing fanfares ine vitability and a predetermined state of existence quiet like the wild adventures