Slaughterhouse Five Section 2 (Part I)

Throughout Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five, Billy Pilgrim has been a man of few words. Most conversations take place around Billy, or Billy simply replies with the repeated word, "um." I interpret this to mean that the person who is Billy is the "time-traveling" mind of Billy Pilgrim. A good part of the story takes place in Billy's mind. For example, Billy is on his morphine trip and has this dream about giraffes, "Billy was a giraffe, too. He ate a pear (p.99)." I feel like this quote sums up the book. One moment a story is being told, and the next moment there is a line that catches readers completely off guard, like turning into a giraffe. I think the scattered  nature of the anecdotes and actual plot help convey the troubled mind of Billy Pilgrim. The story talks of how Billy's brain was not right after the plane crash. However, the story also talks of how Billy had no desire to live at that point. I think the crazy nature of Billy's mind is due to his post-traumatic stress from the war and the Dresden firebombing. I think the point of this novel is to convey to readers how war messes with people's minds in severe ways.