/01
Dieter Frehlich - April 17, 2020
LESSONS OF TRAGEDY.
What can Slaughterhouse-Five teach us about coping with Covid-19?
War is a traumatic experience. Soldiers are constantly surrounded by death and often left questioning why they survived while their peers perished. This factor, combined with perpetual feelings of vulnerability, place an oppressive stress upon the mental health of soldiers. Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five seeks to communicate this experience. Through an amalgamation of science fiction conventions, namely, time travel and aliens, Slaughterhouse-Five follows the estranged soldier, optometrist, and alien abductee, Billy Pilgrim, as he floats through time.
Despite being an anti-war novel, Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five plays with the conventions of science fiction. As a veteran of World War II himself, Vonnegut has been traumatized by his experiences in the war –– so much that he struggles to communicate his emotions. It is because of this anguish that Slaughterhouse-Five includes fictitious elements; Vonnegut believes that there is "nothing intelligent to say about a massacre" (13). As the novel progresses, Billy jumps between his experiences of the bombing of Dresden, to being abducted by the extraterrestrial Tralfamadorian species, and his later years as an optometrist.
The significance of the Tralfamadorians has many interpretations; however, as the reader becomes familiar with the aliens and the writings of Kilgore Trout, a fictitious author of similar science-fiction stories that repeatedly appears in Vonnegut's writing, they begin to realize these Alien experiences are simply a figment of Billy's imagination. And, in this regard, are a projection of his internal conflicts. Under this interpretation, the use of science fiction becomes a sort of escapism. It allows Vonnegut to break away from the problems of his reality by imagining how they might unfold under entirely different circumstances –– the Tralfamadorians are simply a mechanism for Vonnegut, through the lens of Billy, to understand and cope with the events of World War II.
Why does this matter? Because Slaughterhouse-Five chronicles a man coping with tragedy. For Vonnegut, the writing of this novel might be a form of catharsis. For readers, however, these chronicles can serve as a lesson. Through analysis of Billy Pilgrim, namely, how his science-fiction experiences relate with his time spent as a soldier in WWII, the reader can learn how Vonnegut coped with the perils of his tragedy and the extent to which these mechanisms are effective today.
2020 has presented us with a tragedy of our own –– the pandemic outbreak of Covid-19. A novel strain of the Coronavirus, a series of diseases named after their crown-like molecular structure, Covid-19 is a respiratory infection wreaking global havoc. The highly contagious nature of the virus has forced many countries into lockdown.
The consequences of such circumstances are extensive. Foremost, this pandemic means that lives will be lost. From the virus itself, absolutely, but also due to the comprehensive physical, social, and economic impacts –– it is difficult to put the world on pause. Overburdened hospitals mean that not only will an exponentially increasing number of people succumb to the symptoms of the virus itself due to inadequate hospital space, but those presenting with other conditions will also suffer. To the same extent, the mechanisms of social isolation that have been implemented to reduce Covid-19's spread can be mentally destructive. Those facing depression, loneliness, and suicidal ideation are put in positions of high risk. Further, the precautions around Covid-19 have caused an economic crisis. The shutdown and isolation of the world have resulted in a decline of economic stimulation, crashing the stock market, and pushing the world economy into a slump. These factors contribute to a present climate of tragedy. Even if one is unaffected by Covid-19 itself, the widespread influence of the world's mitigation efforts will unquestionably present consequences.
Vonnegut utilizes science fiction to express two coping mechanisms. First, the Tralfamadorians allow Vonnegut, through Billy, to express a worldview that restricts the impact that free-will had on the events of World War II. In this regard, Vonnegut not only absolves himself from the guilt of survival but suggests a critical virtue –– one cannot change that which is out of their control. To a different extent, Billy's time with the Tralfamadorians starkly parallels his time spent as a prisoner of war, but under a more positive lense. In this regard, the Tralfamadorians become a sort of revisionism for Vonnegut, painting his experience as a POW in a more pleasurable manner. Ironically, however, Vonnegut still suffers. While this revisionism has allowed him to come to terms with the events of WWII, it is clear that this is a temporary solution. Thus, it can be inferred that Vonnegut is warning readers to avoid revisionism and experience tragedy at face value.
Vonnegut presents this philosophy through the worldview that Billy adopts from the Tralfamadorians. The Tralfamadorian way of life is unique, as the species have a strange approach to the concept of time. Rather than perceiving time as linear like humans, the Tralfamadorians experience all of time at once. In this regard, the "Tralfamadorians can look at all the different moments [of time] just that way [humans] can look at a stretch of the Rocky Mountains" (16). However, for these extraterrestrials, "[a]ll time is all time... [it] does not change" (41). While the Tralfamadorians may be able to pick and choose the moments they wish to view, they may not alter the trajectory of time. This convention is essential, as it rejects the role that ones' free-will may have upon their life. Since the Tralfamadorians may not modify time, they accept the fact that they have no agency to create change. They simply live in and accept the present.
If one is to presume that the Tralfamadorians are a figment of Billy's imagination, it becomes clear that this worldview is simply Billy's. In this regard, the Tralfamadorians become a mechanism for Billy to cope with the guilt of surviving the war –– if Billy has no autonomy, he cannot feel guilty, because he had no control over his outcomes. What’s more, he is left with no choice but to live in his present moment, denying the past the potential to ruin the future.
This worldview presents an essential element of stoicism –– one cannot change that which is out of their control. Perhaps best described by the prayer of serenity that Billy has framed on his office wall:
While denying agency in its entirety is extreme and borderline toxic, there is an element of authenticity to this coping mechanism. The harsh truth is that no one can change the fact that the world is going through a pandemic. Currently, there is no vaccine, cure, or proven mechanism to prevent Covid-19's spread. This pandemic has changed our lives, and there is nothing we can do to alter that.
That said, we can control our response. The problems that we experience are compulsory, but our suffering is optional. While one cannot change the fact that this isolation must happen, they can take steps to ensure that this experience is not only swift but tolerable. Adhering to the restrictions put in place by local authorities is an essential contribution that everyone can make. Further, taking advantage of this time to rest, focus on self-development, or prepare for future months, are effective strategies to ensure that this time is spent productively.
Inevitably, for most western readers, our society will return to normal. Classes and work will resume. Those unemployed will again find jobs. The economy will recover. And, at a rate equal to how rapidly we found ourselves in this mess, life will resume a regular routine. This isn’t optimism, it’s simply history. Yes, things will be different. We will have lost copious amounts of that which is important to us –– family, friends, money, and time. However, this is largely out of our control. All that one can do, like Billy floating through time, is live in the present.
Billy utilizes his Tralfamadorian experiences to retell his time spent as a prisoner of war in a more tolerable manner. There is no doubt that Billy's adventures with the extraterrestrials parallel his experiences in the war. For instance, upon abduction by the aliens and capture as a POW, his detainers make him strip his clothing, confine him under prison-like circumstances, and refuse to explain why he is there. Nevertheless, his encounters with the aliens are noticeably more pleasurable than his time spent on Earth as a POW. On Tralfamadore, Billy is treated as a "splendid specimen" (53). Even abducted film star, Montana Wildhack, was interested in him, and "in time, … came to love and trust Billy Pilgrim" (62). Despite this, Billy's experiences with the Tralfamadorians are fictional; they are a figment of his imagination. When contrasted with his estranged personality in the war, where "he was powerless to harm the enemy or to help his friends" (17), Billy's descriptions of the Tralfamadorian Zoo elevate him to an ideal representation of the human species. In this sense, for Billy and Vonnegut, the Tralfamadorians become a form of revisionism –– Billy can convince himself that he enjoyed his time as a POW. Vonnegut has utilized the conventions of science fiction to escape the problems of his own reality. Through the Tralfamadorians, he breaks away from the agony of his POW memories by re-imagining them under utopic circumstances.
For Vonnegut, this allows him to regain a sense of control over his personal time spent in war. However, he is in denial. He is attempting to revise and control something that has already happened. At the end of the day, Billy and Vonnegut are forced with the reality that the Tralfamadorians are not real –– that he really was a POW in WWII, and that it was tormenting. Writing this novel may have brought him catharsis, but to find closure and move forward, Vonnegut recognizes that he cannot re-paint the past. In the same regard, we too, one day will need to accept that we may have lost family, friends, money, and time. Otherwise, we will be cemented in denial, and unable to overcome the tragedy we have experienced. There is no point in sugarcoating reality.
In this regard, Vonnegut warns readers of the perils of revisionism. In this modern climate, one should be mindful of the present. Experience this life as it is, not as it should be. Yes, this situation isn’t ideal, but it would be toxic to pretend that it should be. As Vonnegut likes to repeat in Slaughterhouse-Five’s most famous motif, “so it goes”.
Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five is ultimately a novel about coping with tragedy. Through the conventions of science fiction, Vonnegut details the way in which he wrestled with his experience in WWII. For modern readers, especially those affected by the pandemic outbreak of Covid-19, these experiences possess essential lessons –– to accept that which one cannot change and to avoid engaging in revisionism. In doing so, Vonnegut has been able to cope with the reality of his own tragedy. And, hopefully, these lessons will be helpful as we persevere through tragedies of our own.
For more information regarding Covid-19's progress, check in with local health administrations, and the WHO. The website, Coronavirus.app, is a wonderful tool to help comprehend and visualize several statistics about the virus's spread.