Do the Tralfamadorians Justify the Structure of Slaughterhouse-Five?

            For a book whose main purpose is to describe the bombing of Dresden, a distinctly historical rather than fictional event, in a way that persuades people that war is an unnecessary evil, Slaughterhouse-Five has a lot of unexpected quirks. At first sight, the weirdest and most blatantly fictional of these is the subplot about Billy Pilgrim’s kidnapping by the Tralfamadorians, a race of mysterious green aliens that is the source of pretty much all of the wisdom in the book. Ironically, however, it is this subplot that makes the book’s metanarrative of Vonnegut thinking back to his experiences in Dresden all the more real, in my opinion.

            First, consider a traditional war story. The narrative’s chronology would be strictly linear, events would be described in vivid detail, and the hero would take would take some brave, selfless action at the end. Even more importantly, the story would be told from the perspective of either the hero or a narrator who can’t see the future, and as a result, there would be a lot more suspense. In Slaughterhouse-Five, however, Vonnegut is telling his story solely through his own memories, and so he knows what will happen after the events he is describing, allowing him to jump back and forth in time. Indeed, the chronology of the book is very reflective of one’s train of thought when trying to remember something. You don’t start at some moment and relive events linearly as they unfold; rather, you make connections in your mind between memories at different points in time, and eventually these connections prompt you to remember enough details about an event to get a general picture of what happened. The Tralfamadorians are simply Vonnegut’s way of explaining the odd chronological structure of the narrative without breaking the fourth wall. He first gives them the authority of being a superior species that understands the fourth dimension, making sure that we as humans don’t have the means to contradict them, and then lets them explain that all moments exist at the same time, allowing Billy to get unstuck in time and travel from one to another.

Another consequence of Vonnegut writing in Billy’s future is that it is difficult for him to make the novel suspenseful. He already knows what will happen and his memories of events during WWII are colored by this, so he can’t describe them as if Billy doesn’t know what will happen either. Once again, he justifies this by allowing Billy to get unstuck in time and see the future, and by having the Tralfamadorians tell Billy that universe is deterministic. Since Billy knows that the future is set in stone and there is nothing he can do to change it, his apathy and lack of heroism makes a lot more sense – why do something selfless when you know that it won’t change anything? One might as well enjoy life as much as possible and not worry about the future.

            Throughout this book, we see a very interesting mix between science fiction and reality. By merging these two seemingly separate historical and fictional areas, Vonnegut is able to strengthen his metanarrative, leading to a very unorthodox and thought-provoking anti-war novel.