“In the following excerpt, Vanderwerken discusses Billy Pilgrim, focusing on the causes of his breakdown and how he is influenced by Tralfamadorianism.”
Annotations:
1.) The contrast of Tralfamadorianism and Christianity:
When introduced to the Tralfamadorians, Billy encounters their mentality of disregarding the morals of “free will” (mentioned on page 196) recalling everyone as “machines”, easy for manipulation. This contradicts the Christian belief that even though God controls all, because he created it, He grants mankind the gift of “free will” so that they choose God for themselves and learn to understand only God’s love. The aliens communicate telepathically rather than verbally. The planet of Tralfamadore also destroys other planets because of their constant experimentation with chemicals, and what not. The aliens disregard any mercy for any planets and in fact mention to Billy their plans of destroying Earth on page 149. Even after attempting a compromise to keep the safety of Earth, they respond without a word of salvation- simply seeking the destruction of others in turn exterminating the lives of innocent people no one survives. In the Christian belief, Jesus provides salvation to all mankind proclaiming a victoroius life to all who follow. Though salvation is provided through the blameless and voluntary life of Jesus Christ, one must repent in order to receive the salvation and cleansing of sin. From an outside perspective Christianity may be seen as a guilt system: sin, feel guilty, repent. In the realms within Tralfamadorianism, page 265 describes that everyone is “guilt-free” and that everything is simply right (page 255)- throwing away the morals Christianity teaches. In the Tralfamadorian belief, the person/alien controls their morals by their own individual discernment of ethics and immorality; which completely opposes the Bible’s “Ten Commandments” and will of which God controls over the lives of everyone and everything. Though many opposition in belief, Christianity and Tralfamadorianism both holdfast to a level of healthy optimism- being wise by focusing "one's attention on good moments".
2.) "Determinism without design, where chance rules"...
This statement displays how determinism is a great argument of both Christianity and the Tralfamadorians. The Bible reveals that God ordains a will and “life plan” for everyone, that chance and coincidence does not merely exist but every action partakes in the path that God created for every being before coming into existence.
3.) ”Destroyed accidentally by the Tralfamadorians”... “‘Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt.’”
Even though recalled by the article that the aliens accidentally terminate planets, Christians believe that the second coming of Christ foresees the end of the world. God will destruct the Earth and the universe for the nefarious influence of Satan on the people and for the corruption they have sought out. He will therefore establish His kingdom on the Earth once again.
In the realm of Christianity, beauty and pain both cause the people to turn to God for refuge and praise.
4.) “When Billy, full of revelations, returns to Earth ‘to comfort so many people with the truth about time,’”
Billy, in the first sentence can be looked at as a Jesus character, thus representing how such a contrast of Tralfamadorianism and Christianity has a correlation of some sort. It describes how Billy “returns to Earth to comfort so many people with the truth about time” and similarly, mentioned in Luke 19:10, Jesus Christ also came as God as human flesh “to seek and to save that which was lost.”
5.) “It frees man from responsibility and from moral action.”
As part of the Tralfamadorian presumption, the actions and repercussions of their actions have no weight whatsoever because of heir “guilt-free” mentality. According to the aliens, the events and the intentions of people just occur and shouldn't be questioned. As part of the Christian faith Christ, the son of God, paid the ultimate sacrifice taking on the burden of mankind so humanity wouldn’t suffer eternal hell.
6.) “If one ignores the ghetto or the Vietnam War, neither exists”
This statement represents the selfish paradigm of the Tralfamadorians. If one fails to consciously recognize issues and/or ignores them, suddenly they do not exist. The statement “There is no why” further enhances the aliens’ concept of selective attention, existing in a world of solely where one determines to live in- one of beauty and perfection.
7.) “Tralfamadorianism is a ‘new lie,’ it recalls an ‘old lie’-God.”
The statement above proves how the Tralfamadorian belief system can be of great contradiction. The novel “Slaughterhouse-Five” includes how time is “constant” and continous, yet within the statement above, change exists. This contrasts the Christian belief that God never changes, mentioned in Hebrews 13:8, remaining the same “yesterday, today, and tomorrow.”
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