Chapter 8: Time Travel

          When first reading chapter two, the reader was introduced to the main character, Billy, who could time travel. Billy's time traveling is what all Tralfamadorians, an alien race, experience. The Tralfamadorians experience all of existence at any given time, thus they see their existence as a whole. Because of this ability, they see consequences of their actions at the time they act.

          Billy's ability to see consequences is the important part of his time travel. Humanity doesn't see the "whole picture". Humanity doesn't understand the consequences of their actions. Vonnegut's thought is that, if humans could see, or would think about the "whole picture", they wouldn't do things like bomb the city of Dresden, treat each other cruelly, etc. Vonnegut uses the Tralfamadorian view of their lives, and Billy's time travelling, to demonstrate this point.  He criticizes humans with the hope that we will learn to behave better.

        This was a topic that I had difficulties understanding and had to research. After reading on this topic, it actually makes a lot sense and is a great theme for the novel.