In the novel, Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut to emphasize the horrific effects war can have on the health of a person internally and externally. When going through tough times Billy Pilgrim in the novel demonstrates these characteristics on how he has been affected mentally from the war. War can affect the mental state of an individual in Slaughterhouse-Five by the way he acts in certain scenarios in the novel. How people around him are thinking he is broken and his family relationships with his family is falling apart. Such as when Billy Pilgrim is exploring through the feathers in Germany as the moments couldnt get any worse two of the scouts abandoned Billy and he is left alone in this moment of terror. In the midst of war Billy travels to a time and place where he was happy and living a normal life He was receiving a standing ovation from the Lions club. He had just been elected president (Vonnegut 52). Billy mentally traveled to a place where he was not fearing for his life and cold but he was getting achievement fr
om the Lions club to be the president. In the moment of him getting this award, he had to make a necessary speech. He was scared stiff, thought a ghastly mistake had been made. All those prosperous, solid men out there would discover hear his reedy voice, the one hed had in war (Vonnegut 53). Billy was nervous but excited about this opportunity but he was scared that all the professional, rich people to find out that they elected a ludicrous walf. He also didnt want to do the speech because he was fearing the people there would hear his reedy voice. Billy was on the podium with no words appearing to come out his mouth but then Billy opened his mouth and out came a deep, resonant tone. His voice brought down the house. It grew serious, told jokes again and ended on a note of humility (Vonnegut 53). Billys behavior in this way that that he mentally escaped a place where he was cold, depressed and terrified to an era where he was happy, positively nervous and happy about life. Where he had just won an achievement as the president.