Unstuck in Time

     Kurt begins "The Children's Crusade" and uses different names for each character.  The main character is named Bill Pilgrim and the first sentence says: "Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time." I did not understand this sentence until I read further.  Billy remembers many experiences he has had like his birth and death.  He walks through a door in 1955 and comes out in 1941 experiencing many old events.  Bill is now an old man with a crack in his forehead because of an accident he once had. He has a daughter named Barbara who constantly worries about him and never leaves him alone.  One day Barbara comes home very upset at Bill because he had sent a letter to the Papers telling them about his time on a strange planet named Trafalmadore.  He was working on his second letter to the papers when she walked in and scolded him.  As soon as she had gone upstairs he started remembering his days fighting in the Second World War.  Bill speaks about his first tour of duty and how there was nothing worth remembering.  He was sent home because his father had died in a shooting accident.  When he was sent back to war he expresses himself as being useless and defenseless: he didn't have the proper shoes or any weapons.  He was assigned to a group of three (with him 4) where the leader was called Roland Weary.  Bill describes him as a huge, strong, and fat man with a lot of weapons and clothes.  He had many scarves, socks, jackets, a customized helmet, a knife his father gave him, and a gun. I wonder why Bill didn't ask him for any of these when he was not using them? Weary was a buddy of his who always saved his life.  At one point, the Germans were shooting at them and Bill didn't want to walk any further, so he stopped and willingly let them shoot at him.  Weary ran and pushed him out of the way so that he wouldn't be killed.  When they were finally safe and walking in the woods, Bill stoped and once again starts reminiscing. His first memory is of when he was a child learning how to swim.  He is scared because his father is using the method "sink or swim". (Very scary when your a kid, trust me.)  He then begins to think of other memories until he is rudely awaken by Weary back into the present where he is fighting an ugly war.  He wishes to be back in the free and peaceful times of a young boy whose only worry is trying to learn how to swim.  Weary shoves him for a quarter mile and when they are close to reaching the other scouts he says that when Bill gets out of this war, he will owe his life to the Three Musketeers.  Weary referred to himself and the other two scouts as the three musketeers because they had survived the war together for a long time.  The scouts got tired of waiting for them so they continued walking without them.  They heard dogs and shouting, like a hunt, and it looked like the hunters knew exactly where their prey was.  Bill and the others hid from them and he starts to day dream, once again.  Instead of focusing on the past he starts thinking of the possible future for the events he sees have not yet occurred.  At first he imagines himself as a skater in a beautiful outfit and nice, white, clean socks.  When that image leaves his head he imagines himself being elected president.  Many people ask themselves how Bill can keep daydreaming and reminiscing during a war, but I can relate.  I get distracted very easily when I am bored, even during important events like performances, and start to think of the past and hope what my future may be like.  It is always good to daydream because it can make you forget about the terrible present you might be living in.  It is a way to escape the present, even if it is just for a little while. All though it is mostly good, there are also negative effects.  Billy should be worried about his constant daydreaming because it will eventually get him into trouble.  In wars you must pay attention so that you do not get captured or killed, but with billy never focusing I don't know how he will survive much longer.