Slaughter House V

Slaughter House V by Kurt Vonnegut is a very intriguing novel. At first glance this novel tackles the topic of fate vs freewill, while also attacking American ideology and literature's compartmentalizing of genre and form. As one begins to peel off these first initial layers of Vonnegut's novel it becomes evident that fear is in fact existent in his writing. The topic of fear, or lack there of, becomes most evident in the scenes of war. There is one scene specifically where, "somebody shot at the four from far away... Billy stood there politely, giving the marksman another chance." (33) This lack of fear is because Billy has time traveled. Billy knows what will happen and he knows that nothing can change that. He knows that he has no free will . This acknowledgement that one has no control seems to be almost therapeutic  for Billy because it creates inside him an intense passivity. Billy knows that he has no control over the situation and therefore is not fearful because to Billy fear is pointless. What happens is what is meant to happen and if he dies, so it goes. Another aspect as to why Billy has no fear at this moment is because he already knows what will happen. When there is no more unknown in a situation fear tends to dissipate. This is because often times fear is a product of our own imagination. It results from when our mind wanders to what could be.
Even another interpretation of why Billy has no fear is because humans often tend to fear what we don't understand, and to Billy the Tralfalmadores have enlightened him. Since he is fully enlightened there is nothing he doesn't understand, and therefore, nothing that he fears. Whatever the reason is as to why Billy does not possess the emotion fear there is one thing that is for certain; he survives. This lack of fear, an instinct we believe helps us stay alive, has in fact kept Billy alive longer than any of his fellow colleague who possess fear. This then brings up the question is fear healthy and does it truly help us to survive? Billy's passivity has enabled him to flow through life unscathed, but would this passivity breed the same result for all of us?

Beloved

What drives a mother to attempt a murder on her children? In Beloved Sethe attempts to kill her children out of fear, a fear of slavery. This fear of slavery was rightly placed in Sethe because of her choke cherry tree back, her loss of a husband, her unknown parents, and her sexually abused  breasts. Sethe believes that killing her children is truly an act of love because it will save them from these toils, and she may have been making the right choice, but ultimately she was making a choice out of fear. She didn't want her children to have to go through the troubles of slavery, nor did she want to constantly worry about their well being. To her she believed the simplest way to avoid her fear, was to try to hide from it. She decided that the fear of death was less daunting than the fear of slavery, and so she attempted to hide in death from the lurking evils of slavery.
Another aspect of fear in the novel is once again the fear of slavery; however, this is a societal fear. An interpretation of the novel reveals that Beloved is representative of Sethe's past haunting her. This past includes her time in slavery, and so when Sethe escapes into the new community around 124 she is bringing the legacy of slavery with her. Something the community does not want. This is why the community does not warn Sethe when the schoolteacher arrives; they unconsciously, or even consciously wanted Sethe to be taken away. By the end of the novel though the community acknowledges the legacy of slavery and sets out to protect Sethe. They scare away Beloved and save Sethe from making another rash decision when she tries to kill Mr. Bodwin.
In Beloved no single person was capable of overcoming their fear, it took an entire community.

The Stranger

Fear is no doubt a prevalent aspect of The Stranger by Albert Camus. What is most intriguing about this novel though is that he has both sides of fear, the fearless and the fearful.  For the main character, Meursault, societal emotions are not something he participates in. He is sure to always tell the truth, nothing more nor nothing less, and never waivers from this one moral of his. The reader also learns that by some miracle Meursault does not judge people, which is a human action. Judging people allows us to make notions about whether this person is safe to be around, or if this person is safe to trust; however, humans naturally have a fear of the unknown and because of this society judges those it does not understand as a threat. This idea mainly comes out in the court case after Meursault shoots a man for no inherently good reason. The prosecution even says, “But here in this court the wholly negative virtue of tolerance must give way to the sterner but loftier virtue of justice. Especially when the emptiness of a man’s heart becomes, as we find it has in this man, an abyss threatening to swallow up society.” There is nothing in mankind that says a man must have feelings or he is a danger to society; society has created this fear of “if one is not like society one is a threat to it.”

On the flip side Meurseult is fearless even in the face of death. When he is about to be executed he thinks, “I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate.” This aspect that Meursault has no fear hints a larger message: Fear is when humans lack control. Meursault has accepted everything in his life without judgment and without regret creating an atmosphere where he has surrendered his control to life. He has become a person floating through life never looking forward, and never really looking back. He simply lives in the present. This living in the present removes any trace of fear because we fear not what is happening to us, but what will result of what is happening. When one lives only in the present there is no need to worry about the future.