On the topic of whether or not Billy Pilgrim is actually tavelling through time or not, my opinion is that he isnt. I think that the jumps through time, as they are described, are either the result of a nervous breakdown by Billy, or he is simply dying and is watching his life flash before his eyes.
I think that these are the only two explanations because realistically, there are no little green aliens and he could not be travelling through time. And the reason that he is "jumping" to totally opposite points of his life could be that his brain has overloaded, resulting in a nervous breakdown. This could cause Billy's brain to be jumping to total opposite emotional point of his life. Going from a time of extreme distress such his time in the war to happier times after the war when Billy's in his office, doing his job which he enjoys.
The other possibility is that Billy is dying and he is simply having his life flash before his eyes. At first glance, this theory doesn't really make sense because generally, all the events should be in order and Billy's are not. There is a simple explanation for this. Billy has suffered many traumatic experiences. From being thrown into a pool when he was a kid by his father to being so close to the edge of the grand canyon to being a POW in World War II. These many different traumatizing events could easily have altered Billy's mind so that it can't actually recognize which ones comes in what order. For all we know, Billy's mind could think that the constant jumping of memories could be how he thinks his life has gone in chronological order.
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