This article is devoted to the concepts of fate, fatalism and free will. The three concepts are illustrated by examples from Kurt Vonnegut's novel «Slaughterhouse-five or the Children’s Crusade».
Keywords: fate, fatalism, free will, Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-five.
В статье автор приводит определения фатализму, а также судьбе и свободе воли, иллюстрируя эти понятия примерами из романа американского писателя XX века Курта Воннегута «Бойня № 5, Или Крестовый поход детей».
Ключевые слова: судьба, фатализм, свобода воли, Курт Воннегут, Бойня № 5.
“On Tralfamadore, says Billy Pilgrim, there isn't much interest in Jesus Christ. The Earthling figure who is most engaging to the Tralfamadorian mind, he says, is Charles Darwin — who taught that those who die are meant to die, that corpses are improvements. So it goes” [1, p. 182]. This quotation reflects the main idea of fatalism. In this article we will consider the concept of fatalism and its examples in Kurt Vonnegut's “Slaughterhouse-five, or the Children's Crusade”. Firstly, with the help of dictionaries we will define the key concepts of fate, fatalism and free. Secondly, will we will provide the historical background of the novel. Thirdly, we will summarise its plot, describe the protagonist and explain who Tralfamadorians are. Fourthly, we will illustrate the concepts of fatalism, fate and free will by the examples from the text.
The issue of fate, free will, and fatalism play a preponderant role in the novel “Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children’s Crusade”. Before considering the way these concepts are reflected in the novel, let us take a closer look at the lexical meanings of the three words mentioned above. The first concept to be clarified is fate. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, fate is a power that is considered to cause and control all events, so that people cannot change or control the way things will happen, or something that happens to a person or thing, especially something final or negative, such as death or defeat [4]. This brings us to the definition of fatalism. In the Collins Dictionary it said that fatalism is a feeling that you cannot control events or prevent unpleasant things from happening, especially when this feeling stops you from making decisions or making an effort [3]. Then comes the problem of free will. As defined in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary, free will is the power to make your own decisions about what to do, without being controlled by God, fate or circumstances [5]. Thus, free will is an opposite of fate.
Before moving to the plot and the details of “Slaughterhouse-five or the Children’s Crusade”, it is paramount to give a brief description of the historical background of the book because it is an autobiographical book. The anti-war novel was written by Kurt Vonnegut and first published in 1969. It is important to mention a certain period of Vonnegut’s life, which is World War II. In 1944 he was captured by German soldiers and taken to a prison camp in Dresden. Vonnegut and some other prisoners of war lived in a slaughterhouse. Dresden was not a strategic location as there were not any war industries, so nobody had expected that it would be ever bombed. However, on February 13 in 1945 there was a fierce aerial firebombing of the city by Allied forces. Dresden was totally ruined. Kurt Vonnegut survived because he had hidden in an underground meat locker of the slaughterhouse. This terrible experience was reflected in “Slaughterhouse-five or the Children’s Crusade”. The central event of the plot is the bombing of Dresden. The main character is a prisoner of war, who lived in a slaughterhouse and survived the firebombing of the city. It is believed, that a Vonnegut’s fellow soldier was the prototype of the protagonist. Thus, “Slaughterhouse-five” has some autobiographical elements, which means that many of the ideas presented there, including the belief in fate, reflect personal opinion of Kurt Vonnegut.
Now let us proceed to the plot of “Slaughterhouse-five or the Children’s Crusade” and its main character. The events of the novel are not depicted in the chronological order. The protagonist, Billy Pilgrim, travelled in time and, as a result, we can observe him in different periods of his life. Thanks to the flashbacks of the character, we know that during World War II Billy Pilgrim was captured by German soldiers and brought to Dresden. There he lived in a slaughterhouse with other prisoners of war. The main character survived in the firebombing of Dresden. After the war he spent some time in a hospital because he had a post-traumatic stress disorder. Billy Pilgrim worked as an optometrist, married an unattractive but kind woman and became rich. On his daughter’s wedding he was captured by extraterrestrials from Tralfamadore. There the protagonist was kept in the zoo as an animal. On Tralfamadore Billy Pilgrim learned, that time did not exist in a way people are used to think and that all the “future” events were already known, that was why nothing can be changed or prevented. Once when the protagonist was on a plane, it crashed, and he was among two people who survived. After that he again spent some time in a hospital. We also found out how Billy Pilgrim died, which was not a surprise, because as a time-traveler he knew all his future and could “predict it”: “I, Billy Pilgrim <…> will die, have died and always will die on February thirteenth, 1976” [1, p. 123].
It is also necessary to consider the “philosophy” of Tralfamadorians: “Earthlings are the great explainers, explaining why this event is structured as it is, telling how other events may be achieved or avoided. I am a Tralfamadorian, seeing all time as you might see a stretch of Rocky Mountains. All time is all time. It does not change. It does not lend itself to warnings or explanations. It simply is. Take it moment by moment, and you will find that we are all, as I’ve said before, bugs in amber. — You sound to me as though you don’t believe in free will, — said Billy Pilgrim” [1, p. 74]. This dialogue contains the central idea of Tralfamadorian philosophy, according to which, time never changes, consequently, all events are predetermined and we cannot do anything about them. This way of thinking is called fatalism.
“Slaughterhouse-five or the Children’s Crusade” is rich in examples of fate and fatalism, for instance, another dialogue between Billy Pilgrim and the Tralfamadorians: “So —, said Billy gropingly, I suppose that the idea of, preventing war on Earth is stupid, too. — Of course. — But you do have a peaceful planet here. — Today we do. On other days we have wars as horrible as any you’ve ever seen or read about. There isn’t anything we can do about them, so we simply don’t look at them. We ignore them. We spend eternity looking at pleasant moments <...>” [1, p. 101] .This quotation explains that all occasions, including wars, are inevitable. Therefore, it is essential to focus on positive events and bear the negative ones, as they are predetermined by fate and cannot be prevented anyway.
Another example of a fatalistic event in “Slaughterhouse-five” is the execution of Edgar Derby, who survived in the bombing of Dresden: “I think the climax of the book will be the execution of poor old Edgar Derby. <...> The irony is so great. A whole city [Dresden] gets burned down, and thousands and thousands of people are killed. And then this one American foot soldier is arrested in the ruins for taking a teapot. And he’s given a regular trial, and then he's shot by a firing squad” [1, p. 4]. This occasion illustrates that Edgar Derby was anyway supposed to die during the war. Obviously, it can be said about any “participant” of war. However, as a rule, many people manage to survive. At the same time, those, who were able to outlive such tragedies, as, for instance, the firebombing of Dresden, but were meant to die, would die anyway but on a different moment, especially, when they would not have expected it. It happens due to the idea that there is no free will and everything is decided by fate. It can be argued by saying that Edgar Derby survived in the bombing, even though he was supposed to die, so it is not clear why he did not die at that moment. He had hidden in the underground meat locker, it was his decision, which seems to illustrate free will. However, Derby was a captive and was forced to live in the slaughterhouse. It was not his desire or decision. He was meant to die and every event of his life led to it. This proves the idea that fate exists and this power rules people’s lives.
Let us focus on the phrase “so it goes”, which is being reiterated throughout the whole novel. It is used in “Slaughterhouse-five” one hundred six times, meanwhile there are about three hundred pages. Doubtlessly, if these words are repeated almost every three pages, they are the key words. Indeed, this simple phrase does reflect the concept of fatalism. Whatever happens, nothing can be said, except for “so it goes”, because everything is predetermined by fate. So, all occasions are not accidental and there is nothing to be surprised by, to be scared of or to worry about.
Billy Pilgrim is a fatalist himself. Tralfamadorians and time-travelling made him believe that there was no free will. That is why “Billy had a framed prayer on his office wall which expressed his method for keeping going, even though he was unenthusiastic about living <…>: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and wisdom always to tell the difference. Among the things Billy Pilgrim could not change were the past, the present and the future” [1, p. 52]. This quotation is a bright representation of fatalism, the belief that nothing can be prevented from happening. The Billy’s “prayer” was ironical, as, although it consisted of three parts with one being devoted to those events that can be changed, the protagonist was sure that nothing can be altered. The death of Billy Pilgrim is also an instance of fate. There were many moments, such as the bombing of Dresden and the plane crash, when he could have died, however, he had been supposed to succumb to a bullet and that finally happened. So it goes.
The final example of fate we will give is the firebombing of Dresden itself. It is important to emphasise its place in the composition of the novel. The aerial attack of Dresden is the central event of the plot, although, strictly speaking, it has been mentioned many times, but not described properly. It was made on purpose. Historically, the firebombing happened in 1945, so there is nothing to change and we cannot imagine that it could have been prevented. At the same time, in the novel there was a remark: “You needn’t worry about bombs, by the way. Dresden is an open city. It is undefended, and contains no war industries or troop concentrations of any importance” [1, p. 127]. This quotation means that there were no premises or reasons for the attack. In the context of the book the bombing sometimes seemed to be alterable, while we, from the position of the readers, know for sure that the firebombing was inevitable. This particular technique allows Kurt Vonnegut to exceed the bounds of the novel and hit the ideas of fatalism over the readers.
References:
- Kurt, Vonnegut Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children’s Crusade / Vonnegut Kurt, Jr.. — first edition. — New York City: Delacorte, 1969. — 190 c. — Текст: непосредственный.
- Bombing of Dresden in World War II. — Текст: электронный // Wikipedia: [сайт]. — URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Dresden_in_World_War_II (дата обращения: 09.11.2022).
- Fatalism. — Текст: электронный // Collins Dictionary: [сайт]. — URL: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/fatalism (дата обращения: 09.11.2022).
- Fate. — Текст: электронный // Cambridge Dictionary: [сайт]. — URL: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/fate (дата обращения: 09.11.2022).
- Free will. — Текст: электронный // Oxford Learner's Dictionaries: [сайт]. — URL: https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/free-will?q=Free+will. (дата обращения: 09.11.2022).
- Slaughterhouse-five, or the Children’s Crusade:. — Текст: электронный // Wikipedia: [сайт]. — URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slaughterhouse-Five (дата обращения: 09.11.2022).
