Classics Without All the Class discussion

There are many possible endings suggested for Billy, but it's really left to the reader to decide which one they want to believe happened. I just wondered what other people thought of this. Does it need a firm ending?

Oh, I know how it ends. Billy on Tralfamadore with Montana raising their children :-) Since Billy sees all events simultaneously, this is surely what he'd choose, don't you think?

Vonnegut really wanted to show the madness of war, of which Billy is a victim. The fictional end of Billy (view spoiler)[his own assassination after a speaking engagement (hide spoiler)] versus when the actual time we see him last as a reader (view spoiler)[was it in the radio station or after when he sees the girly magazine with Montana on the cover? (hide spoiler)] I believe are secondary to the real ending of Dresden.

That's my humble opinion anyway.

Ultimately, it's a the war and he plane crash that finish him off. The problem is, when in the story? I think he ends it where we first find him, at home with his daughter fussing. It really is open to interpretation and a great one to discuss.

I don't believe so....He's the only one that survives the plane crash. Am I wrong?

Sorry I should have been clearer. The plane crash affects his brain and seems to bring on his senility. Dresden certainly started his mental illness, but his openly talking about space ships etc, only begins after the crash. The rest is just a cracked brain and moments of extreme stress causing his jumps.

Sam wrote: "Sorry I should have been clearer. The plane crash affects his brain and seems to bring on his senility. Dresden certainly started his mental illness, but his openly talking about space ships etc,..."

I agree that Billy is delusional (view spoiler)[ when he is in the porn store and he picks up the book by Trout that is exactly like Billy's experiences on Tralfamadore. I figured one day Billy read this book in the mental institution and it became part of his delusions (hide spoiler)] I don't think Billy has ever died in his timeline. I think that Billy will just deteriorate away under his daughter's care with his mind jumping between memory, dreams, hallucination, and delusion.

On the contrary, I quite agree with Roderick! I think Billy would've chosen to stay on Tralfamadore with Montanna because a) just like he said- he could see different realities together so he obviously would've chose to spend his days more happily wherever he could and b) he had nothing to loose on Earth! His daughter was always busy and i don't think she would've much cared if he suddenly told her he wanted to move. IDK about the daughterly happiness she'd get from knowing that her dad would be happy but it surely would've come as a relief to her that she wouldn't now have to worry about him living alone!