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Fate In Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse

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The question of fate touches nearly everything humans care about. Every day, people associate events to fate because of the belief that they cannot help what happens to them. In Slaughterhouse-five, writer Kurt Vonnegut argues that humankind is the slave of predestination. A person who believes that they are to do something is not really choosing at all: the choice is already made. For this reason, Vonnegut crafts the main character, Billy, to live in Tralfamadorian time as a way to prove that fate is totally predetermined--not only as a coping mechanism for Billy’s own PTSD, but also as an antidote for the sorrows and grief caused by WWII. Billy’s first encounter with the Tralfamadorians occurs on the night before his daughter’s wedding. There, he is introduced to the Tralfamadorian’s ability to experience reality in four dimensions; they have total access to past, present, and future. Because of this, they know that …show more content…

It is all just an illusion. Without free will, there is no point in struggling for anything. In the end, fighting for something will do no good. This not only helps Billy deal with his PTSD, but maybe also the millions of others who had to suffer through the true terrors of World War Two and more recently, the Vietnam war. Vonnegut without a doubt would say that the individuals who devote their lives to change are wasting their time. “Why?” he would ask. Why put so much energy into fighting for a cause that is already predestined? So, fellow Americans, put down those signs and stop protesting against the rise of Donald Trump because it was all predetermined. Just remember that in the future when Trump is about to carry out his plan on ISIS and “bomb the shit out of 'em" (Business Insider), “simply shrug and say what the Tralfamadorians say about dead people, which is “So it goes””

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