Slaughterhouse-Five

As Billy Pilgrim travels through time, the novel explores mental and emotional conditions a specific soldier experiences after war. His constant retreat to childish mannerisms and strong desire t0 be comforted suggest that his character is essentially weak. He warps from past to present to future and even to nothingness after his death, yet Billy rarely seems to form a genuine attachment to anything. His continual displacement in time taught him to accept the things he cannot change (as from the serenity prayer hanging in his office), and since he believes that he isn't in control of life, he must accept everything and know he can change nothing. Billy's repeated saying "so it goes" reflects this consistent acceptance. The saying always follows deaths mentioned in the novel but could easily relate to how Billy views life in general, accepting things for how they are and avoiding any strong emotional ties to the subjects. Events Billy has experienced such as the bombing of Dresden and traveling to Tralfamador have sculpted his character; they have made him both a strong character and a weak one. Billy is strong in the sense that he knows to accept parts of his life that he cannot change instead of battling and losing. However, this strength could also be viewed as stubbornness and apathy. In other words, weakness. On Tralfamador, the Tralfamadorians have convinced Billy that his life is predetermined and whatever he does is already destined to happen and he therefore feels no motivation to change his life and is not compelled to make any effort. Clearly whether Billy is strong or weak is a matter of perspective. One's character may appear strong in one point of view but entirely frail in another.