It has been very clear from the beginning that Tralfamadore and its inhabitants are very different compared to Earth and its inhabitants from mentality to physical features to life in general. Readers first see a glimpse of the mentality of Tralfamadorians by the concept of death in Chapter Two: "When a Tralfamadorian sees a corpse, all he thinks is that the dead person is in bad condition in that particular moment, but that person is just fine in plenty of other moments" (Vonnegut, 27). Details about physical appearance come later in Chapter Five:
"There were thousands of them outside, holding up their little hands so that their eyes could see him" (Vonnegut, 112). A snapshot of what life is like on Tralfamadore is also shown in Chapter Five: "They told him that there could be no Earthling babies without male homosexuals. There could be babies without female homosexuals. There couldn't be babies without women over sixty-five years old. There could be babies without men over sixty-five. There couldn't be babies without other babies who had lived an hour or less after birth (Vonnegut, 114).
Knowing some aspects of what is like to be a Tralfamadorian, would living on Tralfamadore be a better or worse experience than living as a human being on Earth? Why or why not? Is certain aspects of life, such as reproduction, easier as a Tralfamadorian or as a human? Why or why not? If certain aspects are easier or more difficult as either a Tralfamadorian or as a human, what are they?
The idea of having another species and their own way of life that is completely different from how it is on Earth, reminds me of the novel, The Host by Stephenie Meyer. The Host is about Earth in an advanced time and it is being invaded by an alien race, whose species name is "Souls". The whole novel surrounds one Soul who is trying to invade a human but the individual refuses to allow the invasion. The Souls are like the Tralfamadorians because their way of life highly varies than the way of life of humans. Having the Soul attempt to take control of the human's body is similar to the Tralfamadorians taking Billy to Tralfamadore.
I think that living as another species cannot be a better or worse situation, I instead just think that it would be different.
ReplyDeleteI think that both the Tralfamadorian and Humans have their good parts and bad parts. I think that some of the differences can be seen on p.116, (Its a very long quote so I'm just going to reference the page instead of writing it here) Billy talks about war with the aliens, and asks them questions about peace and fighting.
Anyways, I think that it might have some insight in how it is different living on the two different planets, and how they are almost incomparable.
Do you think it is difficult to "predict" life as another species, especially one we don't know enough about?
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