Sci-Fi Therapy

“…he and Billy were dealing with similar crises in similar ways. They had both found life meaningless, partly because of what they had seen in war. Rosewater, for instance, had shot a 14 yr old fireman, mistaking him for a German soldier. So it goes. And Billy had seen the greatest massacre in European history, which was the fire-bombing of Dresden. So it goes.

            So they were trying to re-invent themselves and their universe. Science fiction was a big help” 

–pg. 128

In this passage, we learn that Billy and Rosewater have both been permanently damaged by their individual experiences in the war. Both of which are characterized the loss of innocent life and the overwhelming guilt that the two men feel as a result. The outside world becomes a constant reminder of the traumatic incidents they both experienced in their pasts. So, the two soldiers turn to reading Science Fiction novels, specifically those written by Kilgore Trout, who even becomes Billy’s “favorite living author,” to psychologically distance themselves from the realities of the real world. By immersing themselves in a different world with different people, places, physics, laws, and lives, they are able to block out the facets of ordinary life that remind them of the horrors that the world is capable of, especially in war. This shows some encouraging resolve in Billy, who uses his Trout novels to “re-invent (himself) and (his) universe” instead of simply succumbing to the misery of his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Reading science fiction is a “big help” in this regard for Billy as he tries to live a post-war life that he and Rosewater both consider to be utterly pointless.

It is also important to note that the phrase “So it goes” follows the description of both men’s most horrific moments in the war. This phrase summarizes the powerless feeling and eventual resignation that Billy and Rosewater experience in the wake of such lasting emotional trauma.

Is Billy’s constant “time-travelling” throughout the plot an attempt to use Science Fiction themes in order to “re-invent himself and his universe” as he tries to cope with civilian life, or is he simply powerless to these shifts in time as the phrase “so it goes” would imply?