NPR: Your Turn: Billy Pilgrim

Your Turn: Billy Pilgrim

From Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
Nominated by Brock Spore

Billy Pilgrim was a quiet and helplessly comic person who maintained his sanity while the world around him experienced wave after wave of madness.

Obviously, Kurt Vonnegut drew heavily on his World War II experience when writing this book and from all accounts, never got a proper explanation from his government about why they put him in that situation.
For me, having Billy Pilgrim as a reference point has helped me numerous times, especially when people in authority above me have revealed themselves to be the severely twisted lunatics they really were. Unlike Billy though, the people from the planet Tralfamadore never picked me up for observation.

Tags: Literature | Science Fiction

3:15 PM ET | 01-31-2008 | permalink

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3:15 PM ET | 01-31-2008 | permalink

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