Tralfamadore Transformations

Tralfamadore is real, at least through the eyes of Billy Pilgrim. In Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, Billy’s perspective alters his view of true reality. When Billy becomes “unstuck in time”, his frequent visits to Tralfamadore become a part of his perceived reality. This “time-travel” includes re-visiting moments in his past as well as his future. Billy perceives these events as completely real, believing that he experienced them physically. While his stories seem crazy to those around him, Billy convinces himself that his “time-travel” experiences are much more than an alternate reality within his own mind. While Tralfamadore may only be a figment of Billy Pilgrim’s imagination, his “visits” with its inhabitants provide him with valuable insight into his own life. He escapes to Tralfamadore in order to cope with his real-life experience in the war. The Tralfamadorians help Billy understand that all moments in life are connected, blended, much like “beads on a string” or “a stretch of the Rocky Mountains”. We “Earthlings” often fail to see the whole picture. It is in our nature to focus on the here and the now. Billy Pilgrim may only travel through time in his mind, labeling him as crazy, but the knowledge he gains from his extraterrestrial friends places him light years ahead of his fellow human beings. While the idea of altering the truth is often viewed negatively, in Billy Pilgrim’s case, it was the best way to help him cope with his past experiences.

The Loving Murderer

Perspective is a major aspect of the slave era. From the
white master’s point of view, treating another human being like a possession and
an animal was completely justified. However, through the eyes of the slave,
their own identities and thoughts were being stripped away. Perspective also
affects the lives of Sethe and her family in Toni Morrison’s Beloved. The
controversial murder of Sethe’s baby causes the reader to question if
perspective is not the only cloud covering the truth, but if love too plays a
role in altering it. In the novel, Paul D accuses Sethe of “loving too thick”
when she impulsively kills one of her children to “protect” them from returning
to a life of slavery. Paul D views her actions as animalistic, reminding Sethe
that she “has two feet, not four”. However,
Sethe sees the murder differently. In her
mind, death was the only alternative to returning to slavery. She worked so
hard to run away with her children and when the schoolteacher showed up at 124,
she did what she thought was best. Her
barbaric act of love prevented three of her children from the slave life, but sacrificed
one. This is the common debate of perspective. Is it right for one so commit a
crime if it is justified by love? Or should morality always prevail?

Guilty by Perspective

In a court of law, the main objective is to uncover the truth. While the process may seem “fair” and “just” on paper, the perspectives of both the prosecution and the defense can sometimes cloud the judgment of the accused. Monsieur Meursault’s murder trial in Albert Camus’ The Stranger is a direct example of clouded perspective. The prosecutor in the trial directly links Meursault’s criminal actions to his lack of emotion regarding the recent passing of his mother. He “accuses [Meursault] of burying his mother with crime in his heart” suggesting that the murder was premeditated. Instead of trying Meursault solely on the evidence of his crime, the prosecutor’s perspective of his lack of emotion is what ultimately delivers a guilty verdict. By portraying Meursault as a flawed, “criminal soul”, the prosecutor supplements personal judgment for hard facts. It is easier for the jury to sentence a man of “doubtful morality” to death, especially if they believe he didn’t even care for his elderly mother. Reiterating the rather insignificant detail that Meursault failed to remember his mother’s age somehow further condemns a man who “doesn’t have a soul” and is unable to attain “the moral principles that govern men’s hearts”. While it is evident that Meursault truly was guilty, the infiltration of personal perspective by the prosecution creates a false impression of a man unjustly labeled “an abyss threatening to swallow up society”.