Slaughterhouse-Five

As shown in Slaughterhouse- Five, human relationships are complex and oftentimes based on different foundations for each individual involved. Relating to my big question (What is the meaning of life?)I think that forming ones’ own ideas of time, space and society while living in the confines of a judgmental world is important. To be able to be an individual is one key to happiness, but finding the fine line between individuality and insanity is also important. For example, in Slaughterhouse-Five, Billy becomes more and more distanced from his son as the novel progresses. When Billy walks in on his son playing guitar in the bathroom, he comes to the important realization that although he likes his son, he barely knows him. At this point in the novel Billy is becoming attuned with the potential for human relationships and the fact that he cannot fully understand or be a part of all of them; and he is okay with that fact. Billy is constantly testing the boundary between fantasy and reality with his encounters with the Tralfamadorians, and alien species, and each new encounter sheds new light on Vonnegut’s anti-war stance in his novel. One reason I especially liked this novel was because it wasn’t blatantly against war without rhyme or reason. He showed his stance, while also showing the reader his understanding that war will never cease to occur. Whether these battles are personal or global, grudges will always be held and wars will always be fought on some scale; it is the right and duty of each individual to decide their stance on whether or not they want to fight and to stick to what they said to the end. The ability to practice free will means that wars are fought by choice not force, and I think that the choices people make leading up to conflict are what define them the most. IF an individual is able to decide what values are important to them and stick by them, then that person will lead a happy life. Conflict may not be avoided (due to clashing ideals) but at least that person will be able to back up what they say and know that in their heart they believe in themselves, just like Billy and his plunger headed friends.