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The Tralfmadorians of Slaughterhouse Five hold a rather... alien view on death. That is to say, their general acceptance of it with their saying “so it goes” is rather unsettling to our very necrophobic society. In nearly every culture on Earth, we have belief systems that use life after death as a comfort. We reject the concept of our singular mortality. We mourn our dead, and treat each loss as a tragedy. Not the Tralfmadorians— they will do whatever their equivalent of shrugging is and move on.

In peacetime, this behavior would seem absurd and out of place—however think about Billy’s situation during the novel. He is a POW facing an uncertain future, with death and violence surrounding him on all fronts. The Tralfmadorian philosophy of accepting death may bring comfort to him, as the alternative would only shred his mind further than it already clearly has been.

Comments

  1. Gloria SunderlandMarch 17, 2018 at 9:41 AM

    Its interesting to think about how the Tralfamadorian way of thinking could be comforting to some but very out of place to others. I think Billy is comforted by this because then he doesn't have to worry about what he has to do to safe lives and it explains the randomness of death in war and tells him that its okay to look away from that.

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  2. Annemily HogansonMarch 17, 2018 at 4:11 PM

    It's interesting how the Tralfamadorian attitude towards death could comfort Billy. I'm not sure that it's ultimately helpful though. He can't seem to build strong relationships with his family. In our society mourning has the purpose of enabling people to find more meaning in life and without being able to mourn people after the war is over, Billy isn't interested in making the most of his life.

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  3. Adam Mao (johnuger)March 17, 2018 at 6:25 PM

    Nice post! I definitely agree with you. For the Tralfamadorians, death must sort of be like a new adventure. The same kind of apply to BIlly. He experienced a lot during World War Two. Death must sort of be like another brand new experience for him. It probably comforts him because he must realize that death is not the end for him, it is only another beginning.

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  4. Massive PeanutbrainMarch 25, 2018 at 6:26 PM

    I feel like everyone has thought of this blog post in their mind at some point, but you are the first person (in my knowledge) to write about it. Nice!

    ReplyDelete
  5. KatMarch 29, 2018 at 7:17 AM

    I think the fact that this alien view on death is comforting to Billy once again raises the question of whether Tralfamadore is real or something that Billy created as some sort of coping mechanism to the war. it is a way to deal with not only his traumatic experiences but with the fact that a lot of his friends were killed in the war.

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