Slaughterhouse-Five

The narrator’s novel begins with Billy Pilgrim, who is described as “unstuck in time” (17). A series of images from Billy’s life are presented out of order. Billy keeps returning to moments from his past without any control over where he goes or what he sees. The images include memories from his birth, his childhood, and the outbreak of World War II. Billy is drafted into the military and serves in Europe before he the German army takes him prisoner. He survives the war, returns home, finishes college, and marries a woman named Valencia. After suffering a nervous breakdown, he recovers and sets up a successful business as an optometrist. Billy has two children, Barbara and Robert, who also grow up to be successful. In 1968, Billy is on a plane which crashes. He is the lone survivor. Valencia dies in an automobile accident while he recovers in hospital.

As he struggles to deal with these hardships, Billy travels to New York and speaks on a radio show. He talks about being unstuck in time and claims to have been abducted by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore. Barbara tries to take care of her father, but he continues to insist that he was abducted by aliens. He writes letters to a local newspaper detailing his experiences and explaining how the Tralfamadorians perceive time differently than humans. They are able to see time all at once rather than in a gradually unfolding, one-directional line. Whenever they think of a dead person, they respond by saying “so it goes” (19). Barbara worries that her father is senile.

Billy first comes unstuck in time in 1944 during World War II. He is an assistant to the chaplain, a role which leaves him without friends or responsibilities. After a chaplain in a unit in Luxembourg dies, Billy is sent to Europe to replace him. He joins the unit when it is under attack and finds himself lost and dazed far behind enemy lines. Billy and three other lost soldiers wander for days. One of the men is an equally inexperienced antitank gunner named Roland Weary who watches Billy and saves him from getting killed. Only Weary’s harsh treatment and bullying keep Billy from giving up. The narrator describes Weary as “stupid and fat and mean” (22). He is 18 and unpopular in his hometown of Pittsburgh. He takes out his anger on people weaker than him. His father collects antique weapons and torture devices. Weary talks obsessively about violence and torture while Billy has no interest in the manner. He also has “a dirty picture of a woman attempting sexual intercourse with a Shetland pony” (25) that he insists on showing to Billy. Weary annoys the other men.

One night while walking through a dark forest in the snow, Billy comes unstuck for the first time. He travels forward to his death and then to a point before his birth. He visits places from his life and sees the one time he is unfaithful to his wife. Then Billy passes out.

Weary shakes Billy awake. Billy is back in 1944 and still behind enemy lines. He begs to be left behind, but Weary insists on being a hero. The other two men become annoyed with Weary and Billy and leave. Billy comes unstuck in time again and visits the future. He experiences a dinner thrown in his honor where he is elected as the president of the Lions Club. Billy returns to 1944 just as Weary is about to attack him. The beating is interrupted by a cadre of German soldiers who capture Billy and Weary.