"The tale of an unstable life"

The argumentation to qualify Billy as a character with post traumatic stress or not is subjected to variables and subjectivity. War as a decisive factor throughout the novel, does affect Billy and his character. “Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an emotional illness that develops as a result of a terribly frightening, life-threatening, or otherwise highly unsafe experience.”(Medicine net) Not only war but shocking experiences of suffering are linked with direct effects in Billy. The Trafalmadorians play a huge role on Billy’s growth as a person. We can see the conversation Billy establishes with them, it is very unique. “There is no beginning, no middle, no end, no suspense, no moral, no causes, no effects.”(PDF) Vonnegut uses the Trafalmadorians as the “subconscious” knowledge behind the dark side of war. They usually predicate or teach Billy some moral lessons such as: death not seen as a misfortune or negative event. In other cases Vonnegut describes the death of characters in a solemn and to some extent, distressing incident. “After poor Edgar Derby, the high school teacher, was shot in Dresden later on, a doctor pronounced him dead and snapped his dogtag in two. So it goes.” (PDF) Roland Weary’s death happens in Germany while the war is still occurring, Billy is majorly affected by this events. To state that Billy does suffer from post traumatic stress we must consider the following:
1. Recurrent re-experiencing of the trauma (for example, troublesome memories, flashbacks that are usually caused by reminders of the traumatic events, recurring nightmares about the trauma and/or dissociative reliving of the trauma),
2. Avoidance to the point of having a phobia of places, people, and experiences that remind the sufferer of the trauma and a general numbing of emotional responsiveness, and
3.Chronic physical signs of hyperarousal, including sleep problems, trouble concentrating, irritability, anger, poor concentration, blackouts or difficulty remembering things, increased tendency and reaction to being startled, and hyper vigilance to threat.
Seeing the constant trips in time and his attitude towards life the audience has the “ rubric” or the criteria to qualify Billy as PTSD or not.