This frank statement, delivered with a remorseful tone, gives greater credit to Vonnegut’s argument that war is dark and destructive. Furthermore, the medium of science fiction allows the superposition of Billy and Vonnegut to be addressed metaphorically; Cox posits, “Like Vonnegut, Billy is taken prisoner by the Germans and witnesses the Dresden firebombing. Billy’s response, however, is not to write a novel but to become ‘unstuck in time.’” Billy being “unstuck in time” is the science-fiction equivalent of real-life Vonnegut replaying his memories into a novel. The audience is left to ponder—has war ravaged Vonnegut’s memory, leaving it as schizophrenic as Billy’s?
Finally, the more contentious aspects of Slaughterhouse-Five should be addressed. Many interpretations of the novel attribute numerous hidden meanings to the Tralfamadorian peoples and their ability to “see” into time. Vonnegut uses these hidden meanings to indict organized religion, which he views as continually perpetrating and abusing the philosophy of fatalism. One can view the Tralfamadorian “gospel” as an extended metaphor for Christianity. Specifically, in rejecting Tralfamadorianism, Vonnegut rejects the idea of an all-knowing, omnipotent Creator. He proposes that the idea of such a Creator causes people to accept violence, much as Billy accepts warfare as inevitable based on the advice of his Tralfamadorian captors. One obvious manner in which Vonnegut portrays the Tralfamadorians as gods is in his description of them as omniscient: “I am a Tralfamadorian, seeing all time as you might see a stretch of the Rocky Mountains”. The likeness presented is reminiscent of the image of God as an all-knowing Creator who foreordains the fate of humanity. Through the errors of the Tralfamadorians, Vonnegut essentially claims that this human image of God is abused in order to justify crimes as inevitable: “If Tralfamadorianism is a ‘new lie,’ it recalls an ‘old lie’—God... For Vonnegut, man’s belief in an all-powerful Creator, involved in human history, has resulted in two great evils: the acceptance of war as God’s will; the assumption that we carry out God’s will and that God is certainly on our side, which justifies all atrocities”. Vonnegut expounds on the belief that modern-day organized religion, especially Christianity, creates apathy like Tralfamadorianism does. He contends that humankind’s depiction of God as a fortune-teller often serves as a crutch for those who are unwilling to exercise their own free will. It is important to note that Vonnegut does not criticize God, merely the depiction of God co-opted by fatalists.
Throughout the novel Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut presents his skepticism at the misguided idea that humankind is guided strictly by fate to commit violence unto one another. He asserts this belief through his subtitle, unique writing style, thematic conflict, hidden meanings, and inclusion of himself as a character. Slowly, through the eyes of Billy Pilgrim, the reader is able to take a glimpse through the eyes of Vonnegut himself and personally see how war ravages the soul. 