In his own unique, roundabout way, Vonnegut utilizes this novel to criticize the human tendency toward conflict and denounce mankind's arrogance in its ability to comprehend the universe around it. The most glaring assault on human conflict comes at the beginning of the fourth chapter when Billy "came slightly unstuck in time" and "saw the late movie backwards, then forwards again," (Vonnegut 73). This film Billy watched was about "American bombers in the Second World War", describing the consequences of their actions both in reverse and in normal chronological order. Going in reverse, the planes seemed to be miraculous machines of healing to the environments around them: they repaired bullet holes, sucked in shrapnel, and absorbed explosions of metal into small metallic canisters. However, going forward, the planes destroyed everything around them, becoming beacons of death, destruction, and terror. This shows symbolically how mankind's petty conflicts can cause so much pain in the world and how humanity must change its violent ways. Insight into the way humans view the world comes from Billy's time on Tralfamadore. The Tralfamadorians supposedly can see in the fourth dimension, observing how all things are interconnected in the past, present, and future. They see all life as existing in a pure state of being rather than gauging it with terms relative to the passage of time. This perspective, obviously, humans are incapable of, which is why the Tralfamadorians label them "the great explainers", always trying to explain why things happen the way they do rather than marveling at the beauty of how all things are, have, and will always be intertwined (Vonnegut 85). Billy appears to accept and want to fix this conclusion about his race.
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