Billy encounters his own justification of the bombing and the death of numerous innocent people. He turns to Tralfamadorian’s principle that the deaths were inevitable and had to occur because that was how they were intended to happen. Neither he nor someone else could alter what destiny had determined to befall. Vonnegut’s use of imagery contradicts this belief. For instance, the image of bugs trapped in amber is used by Vonnegut to exemplify his attitude or view towards both time and free will. One of the aliens that Billy encounters says to him, “Why you? Why us for that matter? Why anything? Because this moment simply is. Have you ever seen bugs trapped in amber?” (97). Then he states, “Well, here we are, Mr. Pilgrim, trapped in the amber of this moment. …show more content…
According to the Tralfamadorian’s, all occurs concurrently, there can be no free will, everything is predestined. If the reader observes what the Tralfamadorian’s’ divulge when they are explicating this to Billy, then the uselessness of Billy asking 'why me' is revealed. (97). Why the bugs caught in Billy's paperweight? Simply because. Human beings are compared to those bugs and while they may believe the things that occur to them are so valuable, in the vast extent of things, they are merely as significant as those bugs. Billy becomes jaded by this concept and spends the remainder of his life deprived of affection for anything that occurs in his life. Billy is no longer surprised by anything because he believes it has to happen; he does not express sympathy for the reason that there is nothing he nor anyone could have done to stop a war. Vonnegut is not encouraging or supporting an idea in no free will, but preferably is utilizing and satirizing the story of Billy to elucidate the predicament of being apathetic with the incidents in one’s life. Another example of imagery is, “It was like an execution. . . . [Billy] dimly sensed that somebody was rescuing him. Billy resented that.”