Literary Term - Chapter Two: Stream of Consciousness

In Chapter Two, Billy Pilgrim is portrayed as a wealthy man who becomes a senile, deranged man who speaks of two-feet tall aliens called Tralfamadorians. When he speaks about Tralfamadore, Vonnegut is using a stream of consciousness. A Stream of Consciousness is defined as a style of writing that portrays the inner, often chaotic, workings of a character's mind. Vonnegut also uses a stream of consciousness when writes about Roland Weary. Weary views his journey with two scouts behind enemy lines as a tale of the Three Musketeers. The men "fought like hell until everybody was dead...and decided to fight their way back to their own lines. They shook hands and called themselves 'The Three Musketeers.'" Vonnegut hints that this is a stream of consciousness by telling the reader that Weary felt like he was telling a war story even thought the real war story was still going on.