Getting Familiar With Them

The only aliens I kind of have an image about are the green ones with big eyes that were shown to us when we were kids, and the ones of Avatar. But now I am getting familiar to the Trafaldorians. I still don’t imagine them really well physically but I am amazed of how they think and what they believe.

I don’t know how to describe them well, but I can really see how us “earthinlings” are totally different from them. Like how we see death different than them. We see it as a sad and tragic moment while they just think of it as the person wasn’t in a good moment, so he/she still exists, but in another time. Also, the way that they don’t have explanations to everything like we do. We always have more questions to answer, and we want explanations that can lead us to another one. But the Trafaldorians are completely different. “All time is all time. It does not change. It does not lend itself to warnings or explanations. It simple is.”

How different would our lives be if we didn’t search for so many explanations, and only worry about tomorrow instead of today? How different would it be if we just enjoyed the moment and quit on having to have the correct explanation for everything? I have the answer… Very.  Discussions would be cut short, we wouldn’t have to prove each other wrong. Nor would we be stressed out if things didn’t come out the way we planned. They would just simply happen and we would have to accept it.  Live the moments. But again, it would also have its downs. The expectation and excitement of something would be gone. We wouldn’t have as much curiosity and answers to things that seemed to be impossible before.

I think I stay with being and “earthling.” But it definitely is interesting how Vonnegut invents these weird and mysterious creatures so different from us. He definitely is a very creative guy. They aren’t just creepy on the outside, but mysterious and kind of scary beings on the inside. I can’t wait to find out more of these unexpected creatures.

Perspectives...

Time travel… Even though I know it’s a pretty impossible thing, I can’t say I haven’t though about it. Reading this book has made me wonder more and more. I can see how hard it must be for Billy to go from one place to the next. It must be really confusing, since Vonnegut puts him in two situations totally different from each other when he is travelling in time. Like his first time being unstuck in time, when he was in war, laying on a tree in the forest to going to the point where he was a little boy at the YMCA. They are two different and not related moments. Can you imagine, being in one difficult certain point in your life to going to one where you didn’t even think of tomorrow? It must be really frustrating to not know what is going on. To not know where you are really standing, and when you are suddenly going to be unstuck in time, where it is going to lead you. When does your present really lye? You are leaping from one moment to the next, that you can’t even keep track of where you were before.

I don’t think I would like to travel in time.  Being confused and frustrated, even though it would have its advantages. Like going back and changing things that you regret. But at the same time it would change your present. And if your pretty happy with your present why would you want to change that? I believe that things happen for a reason, and even though we might not understand why they happen to us, they have a strong and good reason at the end.

But again, I haven’t really understood if Billy is just an observer and no one can see him, or if he is the one actually living the moment again for the second time. And if he really is living that moment once again, and he does decide to change things, it wouldn’t make a difference because in moments he will be in another place.

This book has got me hooked, but I am confused and have a lot of questions, which is why it keeps me wanting to read more and getting answers for those questions. When does Billy reach his actual present? Is there an actual preset? I don’t know but I definitely want to find out.  

Lost?

In this chapter I really felt sorry for Billy. Poor guy... He was definitely in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was definitely not soldier material. As he is described in the chapter as skinny and 6ft tall I can totally picture him. The tough guys such as Weary, bugging him and pushing him around for his own good, reminds me of a person I knew pretty well (i´ll get to that later on). Being in a place where you don't feel comfortable, or you feel that you don't belong is one of the worst feelings ever. Especially if its a live or die situation like in this case. How terrible could the feeling be, that Billy seemed like he didn't even care if he died or if he was left behind? For example, when he says "Go ahead without me". This shows the lack of interest that Billy had towards the war and to his life.

When I said that Billy reminded me of a person that I knew pretty well, I meant my grandfather. He wasn't in the military but he was in the Colombian Navy. Some people chose to go there to fight for the country, but others such as my grandfather had to go there for financial aid. In those times if you enrolled in the navy you would receive free education and most likely a better way of life for him and his family. So my Grandfather, scared of the sea to death went to the Navy. At first he didn't feel comfortable, he would tell us that everyone would bully him, that he would feel totally left out. But as time went on he started to get the hang of things until he reached Admiral.

This shows that sometimes even though you don't feel comfortable somewhere, or you feel that you don't belong, as time passes buy, one of those times can be one of the most important ones in your life. Like in the case of my grand father and as so far
I´ve seen in Billy´s life too. Because as far as i´ve gotten, most of the story has been about his times at war.



But not only has the book been about that. It has talked about many topics. Such as aliens, torture, war and I cant wait for what comes next! But these topics even though they are all within the story I wonder how they will finally connect at the end? Also something that keeps knocking on my mind is who is Billy?? Is he maybe Vonnegut? Maybe he changed all of the names but he really is telling the story! This book is full of hidden clues and I cant wait to start finding them out.

Is it that ridiculous?

Why does it seem so ridiculous to human kind  to believe that there is a man that has been with aliens before? We know that most likely there is life in other planets because the universe is so tremendously huge, but why can we say that it is possible on paper and not really believe it?

I know that if someone comes and says that they have been with aliens, and have travelled in time without us noticing it would seem ridiculous to me. But thanks to this book I am seeing the the other side of the story. I am able to see the desesperation of Billy trying to convince his daughter, that he isn´t crazy and that he has been with the Trafaldorians. I know that this book is fiction but I really like how it has not only made me get into the story but reflect and question about real life aspects.

It also reminds me of religion. Doesn´t Jesus come as our saviour? Don´t we say that he performed miracles? Of course there are people that don´t believe it, but some of us do. Its the same thing. It is a person saying things that we aren´t used to so our first reaction is to say that it is crazy, but the thought of it always keeps knocking upon our heads. 

A little bit of Slaughter Five...

Slaughterhouse Five has really grabbed my attention. Its not the type of book that I´m used to reading but its pretty nice to change and read different things once in a while. What has mostlly grabbed my attention is how the author writes, and the patterns that I have found while reading the book. For example, "so it goes...". It is a frase that continues to repeat itself, and while reading I began to question myself about what it meant. Until finally they say that "so it goes" is a frase that the Trafaldorians say when soemone dies. This is because they say that "when a person dies he only appears to die. He´s still much very alive in the past, so it is very silly for people to cry at his funeral." "When a Trafaldorian sees a corpse all he thinks is that the dead person is in bad condition in that moment, but that the person is just fine in other particular moments." I found this EXTREMELY interesting.

Since we were little we have been taught that death is something very sad and tragic (I agree). But this idea made me question myself, how would everything be if we weren´t taught those type of things? Could we believe that maybe death is a happy thing? If we read what the Trafaldorians say, it might seem ridiculous and just fiction to us. But this has made reflect upon how we kind of live in a bubble and that we are very close minded to other explanations and possibilities, no matter what you believe.