Why was Billy assassinated in Slaughterhouse Five?

Question

For preaching the Tralfmadorian message, or another reason?

Answer 1

Maybe.  Or is Vonnegut saying that life and death are meaningless, and we are to see, like the Tralfamadorians, that death is only an instant in the 4th dimension, and Billy Pilgrim who is a friend of Paul Lazzaro, who kills him, also recognizes this Tralfamadorian truth.

Answer 2

I have not read this novel, but there are a number of on line study guides that can help you with this question.  Most of them have  good information.  Have a look at these, and you should get some help with your work.  If you do a search here in the Yahoo Answers search window you will find other questions that have been asked about the book and they may help too.

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/slaughter/

http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/t...

Answer 3

Billy's death is consequence of a string of events; after the Germans over-run his Army unit in Luxembourg, Billy wanders the woods clad only a light jacket and shoes, suffering hypothermia. In the event, he meets Roland Weary, a soldier carrying prodigious amounts of kit and wearing so much clothing he barely notices the winter cold.

Rather than share with Billy, Weary makes it his business to keep Billy alive (despite his pathetic appearance and willingness to quit, lie down, and die), spending the time threatening and cajoling Billy to stay alive. At their capture, the Germans confiscate everything Weary has, including his boots, giving him clogs to wear; he eventually dies of gangrene caused by the clogs.

Because Weary blames Billy for his capture, and long-awaited death, Weary's morbid friend, Paul Lazzaro, vows to kill him, because revenge is "the sweetest thing in life". Time-traveller Billy, already knows where, when, and how he will be killed: Paul Lazzaro shoots him after a speech in a balkanized United States. During the speech, Billy says he will be killed after the speech, using said fact to tell his audience that, because time is (just) another dimension, all three-dimensional slices of life, as people know them, simultaneously exist in a different world, therefore, everyone is always alive, and death is a bizarre, traumatic event that will happen to everyone.