Vonnegut phrases the role of science fiction in the book best saying it is a means of reinvention. It allows Billy to reshape his experiences using time travel, bouncing from moment to moment to only re-experience certain parts of his trauma. Being able to pick and choose (in a way) what moments of a traumatic experience you think about has the potential to leave behind some of the more chilling memories which could do more psychological damage. Billy could possibly be a completely different person to us than he is to the rest of the world because we could be with him after he's 'chosen' less violent memories to hold on to. If this is true, the science fiction element time travel has truly reinvented Billy from a scarred veteran to a person more understanding of his experiences.
Slaughterhouse 5 reinvents parts of us as well. The time travel Vonnegut incorporates makes World War 2 more fictional which in turn makes it easier for us to relate to. If Slaughterhouse 5 were simply another textbook on the the world wars our views on the atrocities would probably not change. But, since the book has the feel of fiction readers can more easily become invested in the outcomes. By pulling us in with the science fiction elements Vonnegut is able to reshape readers views from a black and white belief that the Germans were entirely at fault to the reality that both sides committed atrocities.
You make a very interesting point about how the fact that the book is obviously fiction makes it affect our opinions and feelings more than if we knew it was history. One reason for this which came to mind was that when we know it is fictional, we stop thinking about what has been drilled into us our whole lives about Germany being evil and Americans being good, and we see everyone as Earthlings, and form opinions based on that. Only later do we realize that these new opinions about what happens in the novel are completely relevant to our actual history.
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