Slaughterhouse 5

I had often heard about Slaughterhouse 5 from my mom and various high school teachers who all claimed it was a classic. To me classics arent always the most interesting thing to read (Great expectations or The tale of two cities), yet when I finally read it, it redefined what I thought about "classic" literature. I was expecting something completely different which made me come to appreciate the story even more. It was disorienting (which paralleled Billy's own disoriented timetraveling life) and a compelling read.

The time travel aspect interested me very much. How would you act if throughout your life you would blink your eyes and open them to see your future or past all over again. Would you panic and try to fix the mistakes of the past? Or would you become this zen-like objectivist much like Billy? Since none of us will probably ever experience an event like this, then it is safe to say we will never know. The paradox I talked about in class was "the Predestination Paradox". If Billy was predestined to go back and forward in time at random points of his life, then no matter what he does, he will not change history but rather fulfill whatever he is supposed to do (it is usually irony at its best). Though most films dealing with this scenario are much more drastic (Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure), Billy goes through time not to save the world, but just as a result of aliens intervening in his life. The science fiction element of the story is a Macguffin as it is unimportant whether it is real or not.

We, as the reader, are unsure whether the narrator is reliable about Billy. If Billy goes through time at any given moment than who knows how long he has been a time traveller. He could be trying to change history for years but is unable to change his life in a Back To The Future Style sort of way. That could be the reason he is the same solomn tone throughout the book, his body is there but his mind (in a metaphysical sense) is not. When he stands and is almost shot it seems as though he is trying to change his fate, despite his knowledge that he will die much later in his life. He is imprisoned in this time conundrum and he eventually becomes the Tranquil and reserved Billy that we all know. He can only change himself as he goes through time. He cannot change what goes on around him, only his personality and outlook on what I guess you can call a life. He accepts his fate to be unable to change what goes on in the world around him. To me Billy is like a Zen Master and has accepted his eternity of life (as he can never truly die as he will only wake up in his past) and simply put, he just is. He has no other option but to live this way.

i think for anyone to try to figure out all of the philosophical kinks of this story would be ridiculous as there is just no way. But it definately makes for a good story.......