How Did Billy Pilgrim Have Ptsd In Slaughterhouse Five

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Having PTSD or somebody you know having PTSD is a very scary and dangerous disorder to have. In Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Billy Pilgrim is a main character in the story who suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a disorder that some people have because either they have seen or lived through a scary terrifying dangerous event in their lives. If a person has PTSD they feel afraid before and after a traumatic situation that happens. Some people feel scared even they aren’t in danger. In the book Slaughterhouse Five Billy Pilgrim says that he has come “unstuck in time”. Billy is suffering from PTSD because he gets nightmares, flashbacks from his past and he believes the Tralfamadorians …show more content…

According to source, “nimh.nih.org”, re-experiencing symptons for somebody who has PTSD are nightmares over and over again. Bad dreams lead to nightmares for Billy Pilgrim and he has this symptom. A quote from Slaughterhouse Five is “Billy closed his eyes, when he opened them he was back into the second World War again, a German was kicking his feet, telling him to wake up…” (Vonnegut 58). This quote supports the thesis because when he falls asleep he always ends up having a terrible nightmare. For example, in this scene from the book, he falls asleep in a boxcar in Germany, where he’s being taken to a POW Camp, which leads to the other prisoners not wanting to sleep next to Billy because of his kicking. He jumps up from his dream as soon as he hears a siren, thinking he’s in World War …show more content…

According to source, “ptsd.va.gov”, PTSD has many symptom forms of strange frightening scary thoughts. It is stated that a person who has PTSD over exaggerates on the feelings and thoughts that they think are happening but really aren’t. In the book, a quote representing this is “Billy now shuffled down his upstairs hallway, knowing he was about to be kidnapped by a flying saucer.” (Vonnegut 72). This quote supports the thesis because Billy believes that the Flying Saucer meaning the Tralfamadorians are going to kidnap him. He has PTSD and we can infer that because he is having thoughts in his head that aren’t true, but he is for sure that he will get kidnapped. However; the Tralfamadorians do kidnap him and take him to a zoo with Montana Wildhack. Even though, he did get kidnapped, Billy shouldn’t be thinking that way. It just makes it very noticeable that he has a

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