Filed under: Uncategorized
Today in class we discussed what an experience is to someone. We were also asked, “What is trauma?” In Slaughterhouse-Five I think that is important for someone to understand what trauma is and what it does to a person. I definitely think that Vonnegut uses Billy Pilgrim’s experience with Tralfamadore and the paranormal not only as a way for Pilgrim to get over the trauma from WWII and Dresden in the novel, but also as a way for Vonnegut, himself, to cope with it in real life. Many soldiers have come back from war a different person and doctors say they suffer from posttraumatic distress or have gone crazy. I have friends that have come back from Iraq completely different from the people I once knew. I think that this idea of coping with war is something every soldier faces. Just like Vonnegut, people have to create a reason that what they did was ok. If that means making up a planet and a theory about death and time, then so be it. Maybe the soldiers that return from war aren’t crazy. Maybe they’re just coping with trauma so they can keep on living.
Leave a Comment so far
Leave a comment
