Slaughterhouse 5 and My Big Question

Slaughterhouse 5 really wasn't about healthy or harmful relationships in my personal opinion. What I got from the novel was the internal struggle that Billy Pilgrim had as to what he should do with his life. Throughout the novel Billy time traveled, and to me that was an example of the author saying how Billy didn't really have a set goal or direction that he wanted to go in and take his life to. He was in the war and was an optometrist, but I personally believe that he couldn't really focus on something for very long. The escape to Tramafaldore could be a great example of him trying to find a way to avoid having to accomplish things and just deal with life as it comes.

To Billy, all his relationships seemed indifferent. He was married to a woman that he didn't really care much for and he was satisfied with that. She didn't do him any harm and was actually a good companion for him, but there was nothing special about their relationship. Also with Montana he didn't seem to care much what happened with her either way. He was happy about their relationship, but just like his other wife nothing spectacular made him love her in a very passionate way. The fact that he didn't feel bad about cheating on his wife is another example of his indifference, he didn't encourage cheating, but he simply didn't judge as to whether the action was right or wrong. All the relationships he had in war were also very indifferent because not once did he grieve for one of his fallen friends. The only time that Billy cried was when he saw that the horse was being so mistreated. He didn't cry when the school teacher was shot, or when Weary was killed, or even when he found bodies or had to sleep next to the dead hobo on the train. Billy simply didn't feel emotion. He wanted out of life and no relationship that he had could truly change his personality or affect him in an impactful way. Not even his daughter could sway him to believe in what she thought was right nor could the rejection of the public about his Tramafaldore experiences hinder the belief he had in those aliens.

Billy was a very strange character in that the only thing he was passionate about was time traveling and getting people to believe that he was telling the truth. Although it never worked that was the only thing that Billy did not give up on. He gave up on life, on his family, and on having a successful career, but he did not give up on presenting the Tramafaldorians to the Earth world. I think the Tramafaldore experience was simply an outlet for him to relieve his fears or stress that he had in the real world.