Sweet Trafalmadorian Books

What if books were like dreams? Careless, light images that you presence and embrace without any questions or concerns. Tralfamadorians read like that. Apparently their books are very short, almost like telegrams. Wait, that doesn’t even qualify as reading because according to the Free Online Dictionary it means: “To examine and grasp the meaning of (written or printed characters, words, or sentences).” Now that I think about it, you actually can but not in the way that most people think. Technically they are characters and by looking at them and creating this image in your head you are “grasping the meaning” of it. Although, because Tralfamadorians see in four dimensions, they probably have a different experience reading therefore have a different definition.

Anyway, what I understood is that their books are so concise that you end up with an image, a scene or better yet said, a situation in which life is “beautiful and surprising and deep. There is no beginning, no middle, and no end, no suspense, no moral, no causes, no effects. What we love in our book are the depths of many marvelous moments seen all at one time.” (Slaughterhouse-Five Pg.88) I take this to be a sort of ecstasy-filled chaos in which you can succumb to all your temptations and desires. A place in which there are no consequences and there is nothing that can take away your free will.I can’t seem to find anything else that relates to this experience other than dreams. I considered heaven and hell. I thought it could be hell because it states that there is no moral but by saying “marvelous” it is entitled to be good. But in order to be heavenly it has to be hallow which it is clearly not.

If I read this I would find it funny, almost awkward that someone wrote about the first two pages of the chapter but I wonder if we could read like Tralfamadorians, what would be the point in having a social life, stealing, spending and receiving money etc.? Think about it, if you could be in a mental state of mind that provides you happiness and tranquility, why on earth would you stop? In which case if nobody stopped there would be no communication which would eventually end up in the crumbling of our economies and societies in general. It would become the ultimate weapon. You could make someone do whatever you want and instead of torture you could use the most effective bribe. Endless happiness. So if you could write a Tralfamadorian book, how would it go?

On a side note, I think we all should say sweet tralfamadorian readings instead of sweet dreams. We could start a trend.