Final Thoughts on Slaughterhouse Five

A question we often asked during class discussion was, "does Billy actually experience Tralfamador? Or is it a coping mechanism he has?" I think that Billy genuinely believes that Tralfamador is real because it is his coping mechanism. However, Tralfamador is not real for anyone else because they do not find refuge there.

We can see how Billy uses Tralfamador as an escape from reality throughout the book. For example, when he is in a hospital for veterans his fiancee Valencia visits him. She asks him to tell her about Dresden and what he saw there. Billy can not bring himself to talk about Dresden. However, on Tralfamador when Montana asks him to tell her a story he vividly describes the bombing of Dresden to her. I think that by believing in Tralfamador Billy can pretend that he is okay, and that the war has not affected him and much as it really has. 

I think Billy also uses Tralfamador so that he is not lonely. I think Billy feels lonely because he cannot connect with anyone due to his expiences in the war.  On Tralfamador when he is in the zoo there are people just there to adore him. With their continuous questions and attention Billy never is alone. On Tralfamador he also has Montana as his companion. She is what he considered to be an ideal woman. While we do not see the attention, Billy has on Tralfamador with the Tralfamadorians and Montana as love he seems to. I think this is because Billy does not know what it is like to be loved having never experienced it. In his childhood he was traumatized by his father when he threw Billy into the water.  This translates to now knowing what love is as we can see in his relationships. Billy does not even love his wife Valencia. He tells us that when he was proposing he was confusing how he got there. Billy was doing what was expected of him, not because he wanted to. Valencia we are told “adores” him, but that seems to be because no one else would marry her.

         In the end I think Tralfamador is a reality Billy escapes to because he does not know how to deal with his trauma from the war and to feel less lonely.