In the novel Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut expresses his belief that there is no such thing as free will. Free will does not exist because we choose what we choose, and that is simply fate. Having the right to choose is not defined as free will because if we ever went back, we would have to choose the same thing, because the moment is set up that way. In the novel, the Tralfamadorians explain to Billy that there is no such thing as free will and that Earthlings only believe there is free will because they cannot view time as the fourth dimension. Tralfamadorians are able to see everything that has ever happened to any object including other people, landforms, and stars. The Tralfamadorians know everything that has happened and everything that ever will happen, even the end of the universe. When Billy asks the Tralfamadorians why they don't stop the end of the universe they tell him that they can't, the moment is set up that way and it can never change. The Tralfamadorian who blows up the universe if fated to keep making the same decision.
Kurt Vonnegut, the author of Slaughterhouse-Five, tackled the basic question of human existence. He had gone through many things in his life, one of those being the firebombing of Dresden. Vonnegut never wanted to be put in many of the situations he was in, and the fact that he had no control over any of it shows that fate outs free will all together. Vonnegut altered realism in the novel to show human mistakes through other mediums. His ideals are directly represented throughout the book in Tralfamadores, Billy's uncontrollable time traveling, and crazy books created by is alter-ego, Kilgore Trout.
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4 comments:
I thought you did really good at going into description of fate vs free will. You were able to fully make it comprehensible and you gave a good background on KV's experiences and how they relate to this theme. I liked this a lot.
Wow shelby. Very good post. The way that Vonnegut believes in fate and that we have no control makes perfect sense because at many moments in his own life he had no control over what was going on. He believed he was fated to be there so the way he writes makes perfect sense in relation to his own life experiences.
this is very good. if Vonnegut believed in the fourth dimension of free will this book would be completely different. yes we just believe what people tell us to.
Shelbs, you really have a way with putting your thoughts perfectly into words. This post was perfection, capturing every detail of the question asked. Great job, it was a pleasure to read. :)
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