Billy: Vonnegut's Trauma

In my past reading blog, I had briefly mentioned that there might be a connection between Billy Pilgrim and Vonnegut himself. While discussing with other people, this connection evolved into the idea that Billy Pilgrim might be a representation of some sort of Vonnegut, and his disturbed mind after war. But as I read through chapter three, that conclusion shifted a bit, because in one point, Vonnegut writes “I was there. So was my old war buddy, Bernard V. O’Hare.” This looks like it should’ve been a foot note, but it wasn’t, so it introduces Vonnegut himself into Billy’s story, making me doubt whether they might be the same person. I got the feeling that Vonnegut might be the mysterious narrator of Billy’s story, as if he was another person that was in the same train kart as Billy. Or that Vonnegut gave life to his war trauma, and named it Billy. I know this idea is confusing, so I’ll do my best to explain. Billy is the representation of Vonnegut’s war trauma, and Vonnegut, is like an invisible character in the story, watching his trauma (Billy) evolve, and that’s why he is able to jump through time.

Through the chapter, I also confirmed my idea about the phrase so commonly used by Vonnegut “So it goes.” Like I commented on Mateo’s blog, Vonnegut uses it right after he talks about someone’s death. It seems as if it was his way of accepting things and moving on, like Billy Pilgrim’s poster in his office: "God grant me the serenity to accept things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom always to tell the difference." That poster might be a way of Vonnegut introducing his ideology into Billy’s story, or subconsciously explaining his phrase “so it goes.” Death cannot be changed, merely accepted, and that is what Vonnegut does.

Finally, the cyclical use of time I had mentioned in previous blog posts keeps going with the time travels. The story doesn't run on a straight line, but rather jumps back and forth, between the present (or past) and the future, giving us a better idea of Billy's entire life.