Writing Assignment #9 - Time

After seeing Allison's post in the news feed, it reminded me of a major theme and motif in SH5: time.

Time is something that we as humans never seem to have enough of. I, without exception, am one who's in desperate need for more time. I'd give anything to make the days on earth last 48 hours instead of the meager 24. As a result of my time-deficiency, I sometimes suffer from of inadequate sleep and show zombie-like symptoms during the day.

Now back to SH5. Every jump that Billy made, led to an anachronistic period in his life. In Chapter 2, Billy went from the basement of his apartment in 1967, to the war in 1944, to the little league banquet in 1958, and so on. Also, Parvathy counted over 65 times that Billy "time-travelled" throughout the entire book, proving that time and time travel are recurring elements in the story.

Time is too a central theme in the novel. Billy and the Tralfamadorians explained how it was a constant, unalterable thing, and any point of it can be revisited over and over again. I especially liked the Tralfamadorians' description of a person's life "as a great millipede - with babies' legs at one end and old people's at the other" (87). They believed that people were born with their entire lives set in stone: every thought, every feeling, every choice already determined. Furthermore, Billy said that he had seen his birth and death dozens of times and could relive any part of his life due to the fact that time was unchangeable.

Perhaps Vonnegut is suggesting that destiny is the dictator our lives. Or on the flip side, he may have come up with this ridiculous storyline to insinuate that it is the individual who has complete power over their lives. But who knows? If he were alive, this would be one question I'd like to ask.

Coincidentally, I watched Tuck Everlasting last weekend so kudos to Allison for bringing this up! :)