Billy Pilgrims Coping Mechanism for PTSD in Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five :: Slaughterhouse-Five

In Kurt Vonneguts Slaughterhouse-Five, Billy Pilgrim becomes unstuck in time. The question here is, why? The fact of the matter is that he does non actually begin to time-travel. Billy becomes unstuck as a coping mechanism to deal with his traumatic experiences during the contend. Billy attempts to reorganize his lifes events and write out with a disorder known as post traumatic examine (posttraumatic stress disorder). Post traumatic stress disorder is a debilitating condition that follows a terrifying event (Marilyn 8). It occurs when one has witnessed or experienced a traumatic event, such as war, child abuse, or other types of violence. Victims may claim to experience or re-experience events that were traumatic to them. They may even feel or hear things from the event. Other symptoms may include forgetfulnessamnesia, excessive fantasizingtrancelike statesimaginary companion, sleepwalking, and blackouts (Putman 2). A round of times, coping mechanisms fail and the following in ner dissonance can lead to a multiplicity of upsetting emotional and physical symptoms (Robert Saperstein 2). Some children suffering from PTSD may show traumatic play. This refers to the reenactment of a traumatic experience. Usually, children will change the ending to make it happier. This is an extreme example of using the imagination as a way to escape the terrible memories. Billy has all the symptoms associated with the disorder as he also used his imagination to escape his bad memories.When Billy Pilgrim goes to war in Germany, he is soon captured by the Germans and taken to a prisoner camp. While there, he is mocked and ridiculed. He is a very passive character, and so is not bothered by this taunting, but when Billy realizes that the war doesnt just affect soldiers and people, but all animals, such as the horses they find after the shelling of Dresden, his life is scarred forevermore. He sees that the horses are bleeding from their mouths and that they are in agony when wa lking. When Billy sees that his colleagues had mistreated the horses, he realizes that that is what war does to the entire world. Billy is forever changed and even weeps (197). This may have been the trigger for PTSD in Billys life to begin with. One of case post traumatic stress disorder tells of a Vietnam veteran sleeping with a hitman under his pillow and having nightmares so intense that he woke up strangling his wife. Another time, the akin veteran saw a neighbor walking outside after dark and dodged under a bush and started crawling around with a gun (McGirk 1).