Through out the book so far, and especially in chapter two, I have notice the constant term in which time travel seems almost as if Billy is escaping his thoughts he lives with. The quote "Billy is spastic in time, he has no control over where he is going next, the trips aren't necessarily fun." Really seemed to stick with me because its telling us, these "episodes" (for lack of a better word) are almost an escape goat for his real life problems.
He leaves the normality of life to find something more, he has seen so many thing, so many terrible things that he strives to find something real, something worth living for, time travel is where and how he reaches a sustainable scene full of chaotic and crazy adventures, in my opinion its where he feels comfortable, where he feels like he is at home. Going someplace new is a metaphor for leaving where he does not feel comfortable. The aliens and the unique scenes he described is the result of a vivid imagination. A vivid thought of where his mind should be. Take this as an example, when I am doing something that needs my complete and utter focus, anything that could possibly be a distraction turns out to be one. Billy's imagination is ruined by the distraction of everyday life, with everything that he does throughout his life being a distraction for what really matters, and thats what is in his brain. Is Billy fearful of whats in the future, whats around the corner, or what he has seen in the past?
I think that Billy's imagination might not be using the "episodes" to escape to a happier or more comfortable place, but more as a way to remind himself of the intense optimism of the Tralfamadorians. When someone dies, Billy says "So it goes," to remind himself that at one time, that person was alive, because unlike the Tralfamadorians, he can't just see that. Similarly, when a Tralfamadorian is going through hard times, they can clearly understand that they weren't always in hard times, and they won't be in the future. Since Billy (being human) cannot have that same understanding, that optimism manifests itself in the form of his episodes
ReplyDeleteBilly isn't fearful of time as much as uncomfortable with it. He frequently says that he doesn't care for his life in general, and his involuntary episodes of time travel could be a subconscious attempt to escape, or simply an alternative situation to the one that is making him uncomfortable in the "present".
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