Billy's life as a Motif - CH.2

In chapter two the character Billy Pilgrim comes into play. Billy stroke me a very interesting person. He says he is a time traveler, but the intriguing part about it is that he has no control over his own power. I finally realized after reading Ch. 2 over and over again that Billy Pilgrim's life is a Motif. For example, "He is in a constant state of stage fright, he says, because he never knows what part of his life he is going to have to act in next"(Vonnegut 23). Billy went on thinking that he was a time traveler who had been caught by aliens and brought to some unknown planet called Tralfamadore. Vonnegut also mentions the word 'ripe' (30), why couldn't he just say 'right'? It made me think that something was growing in the mind of Billy Pilgrim.