Free Slaughterhouse-Five Essays: Manipulation of Time and Place :: Slaughterhouse-Five Essays

Slaughterhouse Five - Manipulation of Time and Place  Kurt Vonneguts use of magazine and place adds a science- fiction element to Slaughterhouse-Five. Structarally, the novel is outlying(prenominal) from traditional. wand Pilgrim, the protagonist, jumps from place to place and is in a constant date warp while on the planet Tralfamadore. Since Vonnegut uses the planet Tralfamadore and the Tralfamadorian people to pip Billy from place to place and succession frame to time frame, in the novel he constantly respects the phrase "So it goes," which describes the Tralfamadorians fit of death. Vonneguts manipulation of time and place is definitely unusual. Billy, an optometrist in Ilium, wise York, finds himself "time tripping" with the people on Tralfamadore. To the Tralfamadorians time does not exist. Billy can be on Tralfamadore for years, while only being indifferent from earth for a microsecond (26). Billys "time tripping" in any case allo ws Vonnegut to join the ternary main settings and experiences of the book the horrors of the war and Dresden, Billys normal life in Illim, and his time on Tralfamadore. Billy has no control over his being in a time warp. In the midst of his life in brisk York he will suddenly find himself Tralfamadore he has become " sunk in time" ( 22). The Tralfamadorians eventually show Billy the important moments of his life, besides they do not always show them in installment. They do this so Billy can fully understand the true reasons for and the importance of the events. Vonnegut withal uses this tactic of time manipulation. He tells and shows the occurrences of Billys life in a put manner which parallels the "time tripping." The "time tripping" and being "unstuck in time" allow Vonnegut to present the events of the war in a sequence through which they would have the greatest doctor on the reader. Vonneguts manipulation of time and place in Slaught erhouse-Five allows him to use the phrase "So it goes" for special impact . The phrase appears after every death scene. It allows the bridge from death to life, and it also allows Vonnegut to change the time frame or place of the action. According to one source, the phrase "So it goes" appears in the novel over 100 quantify (Boomhower).