Two Sides of Billy Pilgrim in Kurt Vonneguts Slaughterhouse Five :: Slaughterhouse-Five Essays

Two Sides of he-goat Pilgrim in Kurt Vonneguts Slaughterhouse Five fight can destroy. War can teach. In Kurt Vonneguts book Slaughterhouse Five, the central character, Billy Pilgrim, is the outcome of a test. In creating and developing Billy Pilgrim, Vonneguts intention is to show the effect of new-fashioned war on a sensitive person who tries to play the game the way society expects. This, along with family influence, shapes how Billy acts in his two different lives bread and butter in the military and life alone. Torn inside and out, Billy Pilgrim was forced to make a choice. He had to choose the way he would live his life. teaching from his father, Billy could respond by taking his fathers drive toward dominance over people and environment. Billy could also follow his mother, confusing him with her excessive demands for gratitude. Forced to decide, Billy chooses neither, which to him, is the easiest way to survive. He yields to his fathers attitude without adopting it as a m odel, while withdrawing from his mother without complaint, without hurting her. He believes that sharing the guilt of aggression is more complicated than just now turning the other cheek, which shines through in moments under pressure.Denial is also crucial to Billy Pilgrims character. The Dresden bombing intensifies the damage to his personality. He can survive only by denying his experiences at Dresden and he divides himself into two halves a social half that says, Yes, and a private half that says, No. His conflicts force his surrender to the world, first with a mental breakdown, then with an escape into fantasy. Publicly, he agrees with the Marine major who wants more bombing, more Green Berets, while internally, he sees a war-film backwards, in which he wishes to let out the ravaging effects of war. Looking for an outlet, Billy discovers science fiction, which gives him perspective and consolation. This perspective forces him to teach others, to improve not peoples physic al sight but their spiritual vision, which at long last leads to his commitment.