The story of Billy Pilgrim and his PTSD confusion in Slaughterhouse Five

Billy Pilgrim’s Secrets and Reasoning

The story Slaughterhouse Five is a novel that is very different. A book that most people would just pick off of a shelf and read would not even come close to the complexity or ‘originality’ of Slaughterhouse Five. Billy Pilgrim, the main character, has a lot of problems that confuse not only himself but the readers of his tragic tale. From his war stories to ‘being captured by aliens,’ Billy Pilgrim has many secrets, but he has one major secret, and there are many other facets of facts that correlate with it.

Billy Pilgrim’s big secret is not directly mentioned in Slaughterhouse Five, but it is referred to by all of Billy’s experiences. Billy Pilgrim is unstuck in time, traveling through all of his life from the beginning to the end, from birth to death. In the layout of the story, the author makes it seem that Billy Pilgrim is actually jumping through time, but it is not true.

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Billy Pilgrim actually has PTSD, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. All of his ‘jumping through time’ is actually him flashing back. His abduction by aliens also actually didn’t happen, but it was a dream that helped Billy compensate for his PTSD; it was a way for him to explain his flashbacks and weird occurrences.

Billy Pilgrim, along with his secret, has a very bad habit of weeping. He weeps not only when he is sad but weeps when he is emotionless. And not only does he weep with tears, but he can also weep with no tears at all, as dry as a desert.

Billy Pilgrim weeps because of the stress in his life. The stress originates from the war and from his being ‘unstuck’ in time. The possibility of walking through a door into a totally different time on a totally different continent can cause major stress. Billy weeps to relieve this stress.

Billy Pilgrim does not die like so many others, though. So it goes. The phrase, “So it goes,” is used countless times in the novel. The phrase is only used when some event leads to death. Billy is so used to death that it is just a fact of life for him. Seeing countless men die on the battlefield can really affect a man. Also, with his interactions with the aliens, Billy learns that people do not actually die, which influences Billy not to worry about death. According to the aliens, when people ‘die,’ they only go back to their past and relieve memories. Along with, “So it goes,” the phrase, “Everything is alright,’ is commonly used. This phrase is used at moments when Billy is not actually alright but accepting of his circumstances. An example would be when Billy’s feet are blue are resemble a corpse but, “everything is alright.” Billy’s epitaph, or gravestone engraving, resembles these two phrases: everything is beautiful, and nothing hurt. Billy looked at his life as if nothing bad had happened, even though plenty did. Through his learning of the alien’s philosophy, Billy believed that if you could not die, nothing was really that bad.

Slaughterhouse Five is a novel that tracks Billy Pilgrim and his many misfortunes and ‘adventures’ through time. While Billy thought he was unstuck in time and captured by aliens, he was actually suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. While most of his memories actually did occur, he never did go back and relive them. Billy’s weeping and visions were all caused by his PTSD. Eventually, he does die along with everyone in the story during the plot or after the end. But, so it goes.