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Dismantled Time in Slaughterhouse-Five : Is Billy Really Traveling in Time?
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| Abstract | Slaughterhouse-Five was written in 1969 by Kurt Vonnegut. It depicts a unique from of time travel called spastic time travel experienced by the main character Billy Pilgrim. Although, in general, time... travels are considered an element of science fiction, an interpretation of Billy's time travels in terms of science fiction does not seem to account for the importance of war in the novel or to relate to Pilgrim's psychological condition. Are we to take Billy's travels Literally or perceive them instead as subjective indications that his experience of time is dislocated? It appears that Billy does not really travel in time, instead, it is time which is dissolved within him. In this paper, I interpret this unique time concept as a metaphor of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder's symptom, and interpret the order element of science fiction, the Tralfamadorian philosophy, as Billy's unconscious response to PTSD. My purpose is first to provide elements supporting the claim that Billy has PTSD. The second part aims at determining the characteristics of Billy's times travel and reveals how they differ from traditional depiction of time travel in science fiction. In the third part, I examine how PTSD relates to Pilgrim's dislocated experience of time. Finally, the fourth part is an attempt to regard Tralfamadorian conception of time as Billy's unconscious response to his dislocated experience of time.show more |
| Table of Contents | Introduction Ⅰ. Billy has PTSD. Ⅱ. Characteristics of Billy's time travel Ⅲ. Relation between Ptsd and Billy's dislocated experience of time Ⅳ. Tralfamadorian conception of time: how to live with an omnipresent past Conclusion Notes Bibiography |
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| Created Date | 2021.10.07 |
| Modified Date | 2021.12.13 |