"I don't ever want to talk about it, I just want you to know: I was there." pg 193
I believe this quote defines a lot of Billy's attitudes towards his war experience. He is in the veteran's hospital, almost in a completely vegetative state. The man in the bed next to him refuses to believe Billy could every be anything of worth, let alone fight in a war. Billy finally gets the courage to tell his bedmate that he really was in the war. While trying to convince him, Billy says the quote above. Billy wants people to know he was in the war. It explains a lot about him, and about why he is so weird and sort of messed up. But he isn't interested in talking about his war experience to them. He would rather make up crazy stories about aliens on a different planet than talk about what actually happened. It's the age-old conflict of people who are not extroverts, but not exactly introverted either. They don't want to tell people things, but at the same time, they want people to know things about themselves. Billy's conflict is natural, and an accurate portrayal of his personality.
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