This Gun For Hire

Running through the forest always gave me chills. The monsters that lurk behind every tree, eagerly waiting to jump out and bite its victim without a second thought about the pain they're about to inflict on them for days to come. Mosquito's are like that. Just wandering into the forest without bug spray and smelling like a peach is asking for trouble. You're doomed. So what happens when a friendly game of hide and seek goes awry and you run into the forest unarmed. Is there really a point to running out of there with high hopes of not being bitten? The odds of that are probably against you, the most likely thing to happen is that the monsters form a swarm at the exit and you're forced to run right through it! Talk about disgusting. Seeing as I'm likely to be bitten, I'd rather stay in that great hiding spot and save myself the energy of running to home free. Lazy? Maybe. I prefer the term accepting. I know that those tiny monsters will eventually bite me because I'm not wearing bug spray so I might as well win the game.
That's my point of view when it comes to Billy believing in fate after his abduction by the Tralfamadorians and not trying to avoid his death at the end of the novel. If he was going to be shot why prolong the death? For this reason I don't see him as a coward or a fool, I see him as a person who bravely accepted his fate. After Billy was taught that he is still alive in all the other moments of his life, he believed that his fate was to be shot at a certain moment and didn't try to run. I don't see what the point of running from his death is if he knows that this is how he is meant to die so I agree with his choice to stay put at the end of the novel. Being a believer of fate myself, it would be pointless to escape from death and be anxious every moment of your life that you might be shot. That is why I don't see Billy as a fool for letting his death come at the end of the novel; however, that doesn't drastically change my opinion of Billy Pilgrim, he just deserved some credit for accepting his fate at the end of the novel in my opinion.