NOTE: I already turned this paper in to my teacher and got it back. I am posting it here for anyone interested in the book and/or theme of the essay. I still may make corrections (maybe I will reuse this in college sometime or have another need for it) but don't stress yourself critiquing it. Enjoy!
The Philosophers from Outer Space
The firebombing of Dresden. An attack on a German city in February of 1945, spanning three days, and causing up to 135,000 deaths. The people inhabiting the city were civilians, refugees, POWs, and injured soldiers. There was no military threat in the city. Nonetheless, the Americans and British went forward with their bombing, causing what is considered by many to be the most devastating single attack done by mankind in the history of the world. The death toll outnumbered even the bombing of Hiroshima, which only caused a minimal 80,000 deaths. Among the many fortunate survivors was Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., an American POW who found shelter during the bombing and firestorm in an air-tight meat locker. When he got out, he and his fellow POWs were sprayed with machine-gun fire from the planes circling above. They then had to dig into the debris, looking for dead bodies, and count how many they found. After returning from World War II, Vonnegut set out to write a novel that showed people the horror of war, and particularly of the fire-bombing of Dresden, to which he was a witness. In the novel Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., the Tralfamadorians serve the purpose of showing Billy Pilgrim’s--and Vonnegut’s--attempts to rationalize the images of death that he saw throughout the war. The arguments found in the novel which support this are when Billy learns that the deaths he saw could not have been prevented, when he is taught to focus on the good and ignore the bad, when he finds comfort believing the people he saw die in the war are not really dead completely, and when Billy comes to peace with the bombing of Dresden.
The first time Billy encounters the Tralfamadorians is the night of his daughter’s wedding. It is after the war. They take him aboard their flying saucer and set a course for Tralfamadore. Along the way Billy Pilgrim talks to the Tralfamadorians, who, being a species that communicate telepathically, have a computer and an “electric organ” to make communication between the species possible. The first thing Billy says is “Why me?” The aliens rebuke Billy for asking such an “Earthling” question, and say “here we are, Mr. Pilgrim, trapped in the amber of this moment. There is no why” (97). This event, whether an hallucination of Billy’s mind or a true event in the novel, gives Billy a philosophy to live his life by which helps him to get over his haunting past by believing that there is no such thing as free will. This assures him that nothing could have been done to stop the deaths caused by the war.
Vonnegut also mentions the Tralfamadorians when Billy is in a book store in New York City. This happens right before Billy decides to go on a late night radio show. He is looking at a science fiction book in the store when he sees an “adults only” section in the back. Vonnegut describes the photographs in the back as being “a lot more Tralfamadorian than the movies, since you could look at them whenever you wanted to, and they wouldn’t change” (256). One of the lessons Billy learned on Tralfamadore was to focus on the good parts of life and ignore the bad ones. This quote is expressing how the photographs are similar to the Tralfamadorian view of life, which is that it exists all at once, like, as one Tralfamadorian put it, seeing “a stretch of the Rocky Mountains” (109). Billy adopts this philosophy, which is one of the reasons why he doesn’t appear to show emotion when anyone dies or is suffering. He merely looks the other way and thinks about better times.
The Tralfamadorians convince Billy of their radical view of life so much that he writes a series of letters to the local newspaper, explaining who the Tralfamadorians are and arguing that they have a superior way of viewing life—and death. After the first article is published he begins writing the second article, which states “when a person dies he only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past” (34). Billy Pilgrim genuinely believes this, and it provides him with a way to get over the horrors of death which he saw during the war. Since he believes that the people he saw die are not really dead, but only dead at this one point in their lives, he can find comfort believing that they are still alive and well in the many other moments of their lives, which they will enjoy for eternity.
Several times in the novel Vonnegut writes passages which convey a Tralfamadorian theme, even though he does not specifically mention the aliens. One example of this is when Billy is hospitalized in the same room as a man by the name of Rumfoord. Vonnegut writes “‘It had to be done,’ Rumfoord told Billy, speaking of the destruction of Dresden. ‘I know,’ said Billy” (253). This shows Billy’s willingness to accept things as they are because he believes he has no free will to change them, that we are all just “bugs in amber.” This gives him relief because he then can’t blame himself or anyone else for any deaths caused in the war. This quote also has a more important meaning, which is to show that Billy has finally come to peace with the Dresden bombing and isn’t looking back anymore.
Throughout Slaughterhouse-Five Billy is looking for meaning in life and an understanding of why so many people had to die unnecessarily at Dresden. The Tralfamadorians provide an answer to these questions, giving Billy a fresh view of the world and a feeling of comfort and understanding towards the war. He doesn’t always like what he sees, but he accepts it and goes on. The Tralfamadorians teach Billy that there is no such thing as free will, to focus on the good parts of life and ignore the bad ones, and that people don’t ever die completely. This philosophy allows Billy to finally feel as if the bombing of Dresden is truly behind him, and he doesn’t have to live it over and over again every day. In the end Billy stops fearing death and doesn’t feel sorry for his own death or for the deaths of the 135,000 innocent victims at Dresden.
