Billy Pilgrim was having some sort of a panic attack and was taken to a hospital and given morphine to calm him down. "Under morphine, Billy had a dream of giraffes in a garden"(99). In this dream, Billy was one of the giraffes among a few others who "accepted Billy as one of their own..." (99). In many parts of Billy's life, people rarely like or even accept Billy. Throughout the war, nobody enjoyed Billy's presence and thought of him as a burden. When the comrades had to sleep in the tight environment of the train boxcar, Billy was considered an annoyance and he was forced to "make himself nearly ghostlike when lying down" (78). Nobody ever appreciated having Billy around, which is why it was surprising to read that the other giraffes accepted him in his dream. As I thought about Billy being accepted in his dream, it made me wonder if the giraffes were a version of the Tralfamadorians since the Tralfamadorians are the only things that have really accepted Billy. What do you think the giraffes symbolized and why did Billy dream about being accepted by them? Does the face that they were all female giraffes have any significance?
Also, as I read the details of Billy's dream, it seemed very random and bizarre. He dreamt that the giraffes "had horns like doorknobs. The knobs were covered with velvet" (99). Earlier in his dream "he ate a pear. It was a hard one" (99). These details seem so random and irrelevant. It is hard to find a connection between these facts and the significance of his dream. Throughout this book, the Tralfalmadorians continue to say that "why?" is such a human question, however I found myself asking that a lot as I tried to find a reasoning behind Billy's dream. Do you think that the dream is meant to be discussed and interpreted, or is it just meant to be left as is, without any real meaning?
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