What if I were to tell you that our lives are not linear? What if I were to inform you that all of the moments in our lifetimes exist simultaneously, and that when someone dies- they don't really? These are just some of the views of the Tralfamadorians; two foot tall, green aliens, who, throughout the book, abduct the protagonist Billy Pilgrim several times for experimentation. I think that my favorite quote in “Slaughterhouse- Five” is from chapter four and reads as follows:
“If I hadn’t spent so much time studying Earthlings,” said the Tralfamadorian, “I wouldn’t have any idea what was meant by ‘free will.’ I’ve visited thirty-one inhabited planets in the universe, and I have studied reports on one hundred more. Only on Earth is there any talk of free will.”
Right off the bat Kurt Vonnegut presents us with the idea that not only are we not alone in the universe, but on top of that, the life forms out there are more evolved- and he even proposes that mankind is not the most evolved life form. Woh. Secondly Vonnegut states through his green martian characters that there is no such thing as free will. Woh. I loved this book to bits, the writing was all over the place when it came to when the story was happening, and the different times were presented over a few paragraphs, then once you were all situated in a particular time zone- ZAP! You find yourself, along with Billy, somewhere else. It's fantastic, Vonnegut mimics what the Tralfamadorians believe, that all of the moments of our lives exist together and can be viewed all at once. Sheer brilliance. In some parts of the book read as poetry, and even though the time line jumps around (or does it?!) it is relatively easy to follow.
“Slaughterhouse- Five” was written between the years 1945- 1968, and was published for the first time in the year 1969. Not surprisingly the book has been banned in numerous communities, including in Ohio, Florida, North Dakota, Georgia, Kentucky and Wisconsin. “Slaughterhouse- Five” was even burned in Drake, North Dakota. The reasons being that the book contained extreme profanity, explicit sexual language and deviant sexual behavior, references religious matters, depicts bestiality, and specifically the sentence: “The gun made a ripping sound like the opening of the fly of God Almighty.” I thought this book was splendid, because it not only transported you into the story of Billy- but Vonnegut presses his readers to ask more than just: why- and does not let the reader sit passively saying to themselves “so be it.” “Slaughterhouse- Five,” I think, will continue to be relevant as long as people are willing to challenge the idea of free will, and as long as there are readers out there who are willing to fully throw themselves into a truly moving and ensnaring novel.
A thought for the evening:
Never trust anyone who does not pack a book when traveling.
- BookBender
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