Unstuck in Time In the book Slaughter House- 5, by Kurt Vonnegut, a man named Billy Pilgrim becomes unstuck in time. Billy had man traumatic events throughout his life. This allows Billy to go to parts of his life during the past, present, and future. He visits a lot of parts in his life that may have been traumatic to him. The diagnosis of Billy is he has schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
One disorder Billy has is Schizophrenia. “Billy went to New York City, and got on an all-night radio program devoted to talk. He told about having come unstuck in time. He said, too, that he had been kidnapped by a flying saucer in 1967. The saucer was from the planet Tralfamadore” (25). He believes Tralfamadorians kidnapped him, but it could have been a delusion or he was hallucinating. “And Billy zoomed back in time to his infancy… and then Billy was a middle-aged optometrist again…” (85). Billy has an inability to focus on things he is presently doing. Another disorder I believe Billy has is post-traumatic stress disorder. “Billy Pilgrim got onto a chattered airplane in Illium twenty-five years after that. He knew it was going to crash…” (154). This could have been very traumatic for Billy. “As a time- traveler, he has seen his own death many times.” (141). These could be flash backs when he is in after life or frightening thoughts he has. Velasquez 2
The disorder Billy does not have is major depression or bipolar disorder. For the most part, Billy does