Creating Their Own Fictions

Someone in class yesterday brought up that many characters in Slaughterhouse-Five live in their own world. For example, Roland Weary sees the war through the narrative of war movies; he glorifies the war and celebrates the killings. He thinks of himself and the two scouts he travels with as “the Three Musketeers” despite the fact that they are indifferent to him. He doesn’t help keep Billy keep up with the group because he’s a good person, he does it because he’s fitting it into his own narrative about war; the battle-ready soldier, helping the weak soldier survive. He eventually dies from infections and makes his war buddy, Lazzaro, promises to kill Billy.

Another example is “poor old” Edgar Derby. Every chance Vonnegut has, he mentions that Derby is doomed (it reminded me of Doctorow referring to Coalhouse as black). Derby’s shining moment happens when he makes an impassioned speech about American ideals and being happy to die for the cause. He was greeted with an unenthusiastic response and is eventually shot for looting a teapot. He saw himself as a great leader, but was not treated as such.

All of these fictions, including Billy’s idea of Tralfamadore, relate to war. Billy’s fiction seems like a reaction to going through war, Weary’s is a misconstrued idea of war, and Derby is not the leader he thinks he is. All of these fictions give a general negative view of war and its effects.