The book Slaughterhouse 5, has the question that we’ve came up with, which is “Why should we care?” The reason behind that is that it answers the question, “Why should we care?” Is that it begs the question to why people just care in general, why as us humans, should care about anything in life? For example, this book has parts in it that seem irrelevant, making us question “Why should we care?” An example to this is, "If you're going to act like a child, maybe we'll just have to treat you like a child." (131). Another example to the reason that was stated is, “Billy sat up on his bed, he had no idea what year it was or what planet he was on” (pg 136).
It is important to the story because it applies to human nature and our society itself. Us humans, why should we care? Why are we attracted to violence when we see it happen? To further explain the question “Why should we care?” What makes us start caring about others? It could all start from when we are born into this world, or perhaps, are about to die and are experiencing our life up until then in flashbacks, like Billy when he says he’s “Unstuck in time.” A quote that explains that Billy is “Unstuck in time,” is, Billy says that he first came unstuck in time in 1944, long before his trip to Tralfamadore. The Tralfamadorians didn't have anything to do with his coming unstuck. They were simply able to give him insights into what was really going on. (30). A quote that represents violence in the book is, On other days we have wars as horrible as any you've ever seen or read about. There isn't anything we can do about them, so we simply don't look at them. We ignore them. We spend eternity looking at pleasant moments – like today at the zoo. (117).
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Vonnegut explains this question throughout the story by having this phrase repeating throughout the story, “So it goes.” This phrase could possibly mean what Billy is remembering, or trying to remember. It could also be just a lie, or maybe a fabricated lie that Billy believes in the truth, like him claiming he’s unstuck in time. Another example would be Billy claiming he’s been abducted by the Tralfamadores and claiming that people don’t die, they just go to their home planet. Which a quote represents the Tralfamadores, The most important thing I learned on Tralfamadore was that when a person dies he only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past, so it is very silly for people to cry at his funeral. All moments, past, present, and future, always have existed, always will exist. (26-27). Another quote that represents this is, When a Tralfamadorian sees a corpse, all he thinks is that the dead person is in bad condition in that particular moment, but that the same person is just fine in plenty of other moments. Now, when I myself hear that somebody is dead, I simply shrug and say what the Tralfamadorians say about dead people, which is 'So it goes.' (27). Which goes back to the original question, “Why should we care?” Billy is just saying complete nonsense. Which, could just be mere hallucinations of what he’s been experiencing in life. A quote that represents the hallucinations that Billy may be experiencing is, On Tralfamadore, says Billy Pilgrim, there isn't much interest in Jesus Christ. The Earthling figure who is most engaging to the Tralfamadorian mind, he says, is Charles Darwin – who taught that those who die are meant to die, that corpses are improvements. (210).
As stated before, Vonnegut revisits us to the original question “Why should we care?” With the phrase, “So it goes.” https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRYbPy1gm4dxvF0Jt88l5bFbE-iocjt1KBW_j55SNkc-bWrVnPL1Q
That phrase always leads back to that original question because it is Billy looking back in his life and saying in a way that begs the reader to question if he should care or not. Should we care about this book in general from all the jumping around it does? Should we care about not this book, but life in general? What higher force makes us care for that matter? Perhaps this is a question that can’t be answered at all, only hinted at.
Billy has made me think about this shift in life and whether or not it is as linear as I thought. I’m not trying to say that aliens exist and we can go back in time. But like, Billy can change his feelings and views as his memories and time goes on, so can we. As we grow older or think back to when we were younger, our minds and values change with time. Sometimes we revert back to old habits, and other times we make new ones. We aren’t always progressing: sometimes we go back, and I think that by showing incongruity throughout Billy’s life, Vonnegut showed us that time and life changes, and we just have to roll with it.