The novel, Slaughterhouse 5, goes in depth on the life of a man that was in a war. This man dealt with many things that no human would see just any day. This man, was named Billy. Billy saw tragedy, sometimes he was even the one who created it. I think with a Novel like this, it leaves you asking the question, “What is wrong with society?”. Why would a society whose goal is peace, so they say, create, or even be a part of something so evil that takes the lives of not just men, but children?
Billy saw men die right in front of his eyes everyday, yet the way he described it seemed almost like he was okay with it. After every death he knew, he would say, "So it goes." (35)”. No one is that okay with death, no one is that blunt about seeing another human pass right before their eyes. What kind of society sets up humans to live in a mindset where they have no grief. “The truth is death…” (21). Billy is caught in the middle of World War II. Billy struggles to survive behind enemy lines, lives in a POW camp, and witnesses the bombing of a civilian town. "Dresden was like the moon now, nothing but minerals... Everybody else in the neighborhood was dead. " (178) So it goes. Vonnegut uses these experiences to hint at these questions. The experiences of Billy are specific to that the reader can see these questions. Vonnegut Brings these questions back to mind by the frequent flashbacks that Billy has. He continues to go back to World War II where Billy first experienced death. The flashbacks continue to make the readers think about these questions.
Society especially takes a point to degrade Billy, who has PTSD. The fact that he has this disease makes everyone look down on him and treat him poorly because he sees the world differently. They act like he is a lost soul but in reality he is a wandering soul. This is important because society almost takes a point to degrade those with disorders, making them use them almost as a crutch to explain why they have troubles doing certain things. It makes them rely on medicine and other institutions to deal with them. I’m not saying this is wrong in any way, but what I‘m saying is that people need to not only use these but try their hardest to work on conquering it to not be a statistic, but be an inspiration.
Vonnegut brings this question out when he is talking about Billy being in the mental
institution and he doesn’t want to see his mother, “Billy covered his head with his blanket again. He always covered his head when his mother came to see him in the mental ward-always got much sicker until she went away.”(102). In my opinion is he’s doing this to hide his disorder so that he can’t see the disappointment on her face. He’s doing this to also to hide the disappointment he has in himself. And again when he is in his basement when his daughter comes in and tears into him about the letter that he wrote to the newspaper and the radio broadcast he was to tell the world about the aliens who “abducted” him. His daughter takes a sick pride in this and is enjoying it and says “Father, Father, Father...what are we going to do with you? Are you going to force us to put you where your mother is?” (29) This shows that when someone is handicapped there are people, even those who are close to them, who take comfort in belittling them.
People who have disabilities have a very tough time living their lives. What they can do and think is a hard to process. My personal experience is having dyslexia, which makes it harder for me to spell and read. The amount of stress it gives me is unbelievable, knowing that it takes me a long period of time to finish a book or write an essay. Its the thought process that I don't have. That relates to others that have some sort of mental disability. They also deal with a huge amount of stress. I’m treated differently than other people because of my dyslexia.
http://www.salon.com/2015/02/19/chris_kyles_ptsd_the_untold_real_life_american_sniper_story