The Prayer

                                               

“Among the things Billy Pilgrim could not change were the past, the present, and the future.”

This looks very weird to me: the fact that Billy would have such a prayer framed on his office door. This is a very optimistic prayer, compared to Billy’s attitude throughout the book. I believe that Billy is such a pessemistic character becuase he can change the past, present and the future by just saying something (for example, telling Edgar Derby not to steal the teapot and therefore he wont get shot) but he just believes otherwise. The reason for that is becuase of what the tralfamodorians had told him. They are the ones that convinced him that the past, the present, and the future can not be changed no matter what and since he had accepted this thought, he does not even try to change anything.

His gloomy and nonchalant attitude is the result of his time travelling. He knows what is going to happen as he had lived (many times) every single event of his life. He believes that he has no control over nor can he change anything in his life. For that reason, life is rather meaningless for him.

Nevertheless, he had been told by his patients that this prayer had given them the strength to go on with life. This might be a reason to why he still has that prayer hanging on his door.