Satirical science-fiction war history books don't have too much time to discuss family issues, there's enough going on. However, ruminating on the big ideas Kurt Vonnegut's unique tale Slaughterhouse Five alludes to, a new approach to the argument of fate vs. free will emerges and applies to the question of individuality.
Tralfamadorian mantras teach us to go with the flow, "so it goes". Their all encompassing view of time, the goal to be "unstuck" from the "amber" that holds us, actually seems to me a more binding theory. In regards to the individuality issue, a Tralfamadorian would simply state that one was born to his or her parents, and that moment and the moments that shaped said being have, are, and will always be in existence the way they were meant to be. The idea of a deviant cannot exist if their concept were to be taken very literally.
By the way the aliens present their theory, itt sounds like good living without the consciousness of time, surfing moments as they pass. However, the fact that one's personality as they grow can be questioned stems from us "Earthlings" being more concerned with free will. It's a bottomless concept and goes against the seemingly peaceful wisdom of the Tralfamadorians, but I would say it's a key vehicle of change.
None of us wish to be exactly like our parents. Evolution of ideas and modifications of the system would not have it. Humans may rebel against the system a bit too often or try to take matters into their own hands, despite some wisdom from parent's experiential guidance. But the guts to go against time's mandates, being neither stuck or unstuck as the Tralfamadorian dictionary would describe it, I think brings us to enlightenment and mostly good development.
I would rather we not all be of the same, or seven different sexes, all with no distinct characterization. A crowd of palm faces and plunger butts with no want of control, aware of their imminent doom because one guy pushes a button. That kinda freaks me out.
