Before the novel begins, Vonnegut quotes four lines from the Christmas carol “Away In A Manger” to draw a comparison between Billy Pilgrim and Jesus Christ. … In Chapter Nine, Vonnegut breaks the fourth wall and explicitly explains that he chose this epigraph
to reveal how little emotion Billy showed in the war.
What is the meaning of the epigraph in Slaughterhouse Five?
The epigraph is part of a stanza of the Christmas carol
“Away in a Manger,” which describes the biblical birthplace of Christ in a stable
. Vonnegut quotes the carol again in Chapter 9 when Billy Pilgrim, who usually “cried very little” cries over the suffering of his horses.
What does the title page of Slaughterhouse Five reveal about the novel?
What does the title page of Slaughterhouse-Five reveal about the novel?
The epigraph begins by declaring the author is of German descent
; this fact demonstrates that, if not for the immigration of a past generation, the author might have just as easily been fighting for the other side during World War II.
Why does Vonnegut insert himself in Slaughterhouse Five?
In addition to being the narrator, Vonnegut is present within the text as the narrative’s central character in the first and last chapters. He appears in the text on three occasions to remind us that, although he is now above the novel’s actions and is reflecting on the past events, he was once part of the action.
Why do you believe Vonnegut inserts himself in various moments of the story?
That was me. That was the author of this book. Here, as Billy enters a prisoner camp, Vonnegut inserts himself into Billy’s story,
describing himself as a nearby soldier violently losing his bowels
. … Vonnegut’s experiences taught him that some people will simply not have the life they feel they deserve.
What do Tralfamadorians represent?
Tralfamadorians have
the ability to experience reality in four dimensions
; meaning, roughly, that they have total access to past, present, and future; they are able to perceive any point in time at will.
Why does Billy cry in Slaughterhouse-Five?
The animals’ mouths are bleeding, their hooves are broken, and they are dying of thirst. Billy has been oblivious to their poor condition until now. The couple makes
Billy get
out and look at the animals, and he begins to cry his first tears of the war.
What is Professor rumfoord’s opinion of the raid on Dresden?
What is Professor Rumfoord’s opinion of the raid on Dresden?
Billy and the other POWs are used by the Germans to exhume corpses after the fire-bombing
. What does the author describe as one of his nicest moments? What does the author mean by the term “corpse mine”?
Why is the Children’s Crusade an appropriate title for a book on war?
So the Children’s Crusade,
a pointless sacrifice of innocent life, relates to the novel’s anti-war themes
. … The narrator (a Vonnegut stand-in) says that he promised the wife of his war buddy that he would call his war book The Children’s Crusade so that it would never be misinterpreted as a heroic war story (1.11).
Is Billy Pilgrim Kurt Vonnegut?
Billy Pilgrim, fictional character, protagonist of Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), a novel by Kurt Vonnegut.
Who is Paul Lazzaro?
Paul Lazzaro is the
fake name of a real guy
the narrator mentions in the first chapter, who “really did threaten to have his personal enemies killed by hired gunmen after the war” (1.1. … Lazzaro is a fellow American POW with a grudge against Billy because he believes it’s his fault that Roland Weary dies of gangrene.
What is the point of view of Chapter 1 Slaughterhouse Five?
Slaughterhouse-Five is written in the
third-person omniscient point of view
with interruptions from a first-person narrator who appears to be the author, Kurt Vonnegut. An omniscient narrator is one who has a godlike perspective and knows the thoughts and feelings of different characters.
Why is Slaughterhouse Five also called the Children’s Crusade?
Slaughterhouse-Five’s subtitle “The Children’s Crusade” refers
to the youthfulness of the soldiers who fought in World War II
. … O’Hare’s request that he not inappropriately glorify war, Vonnegut promises to include the subtitle “The Children’s Crusade.”
What was it at the anniversary party that triggered one of Billy Pilgrim’s episodes?
He is shocked that Billy has read his books. Billy invites
Trout to his eighteenth wedding anniversary celebration
, where Trout is a hit with the optometrists and their wives.
Why does the author say that the book “was written by a pillar of salt”? Vonnegut, the author,
is comparing himself to Lot’s wife in the Bible
. When she was told not to look back at the evil cities of Sodom and Gomorra, or else she would be turned into a pillar of salt, she did anyway.
What does the phrase so it goes mean?
Filters. An expression of acceptance of misfortune in life;
that’s life ; such is life
. phrase.
Is Slaughterhouse Five a banned book?
The
book was banned in Levittown, New York in 1975, North Jackson, Ohio, in 1979, and Lakeland, Florida, in 1982 for its “explicit sexual scenes, violence, and obscene language
.” Slaughterhouse-Five was challenged as recently as 2007 in a school district in Howell, Michigan because the book contained “strong sexual …
Is Kurt Vonnegut a character in Slaughterhouse Five?
Werner Gluck A tall, weak, 16-year-old German guard at the Dresden POW camp. The Maori An aborigine from New Zealand; also a POW, he is teamed with Billy to remove corpses from Dresden’s rubble. The Narrator/Kurt Vonnegut A
part-time character strongly represented in SlaughterhouseFive
.
Did Billy Pilgrim actually go to tralfamadore?
Most of the times Billy goes to Tralfamadore
, he does so in response to trauma, or stimuli in the real world. It’s his way of escaping and reconfiguring a reality that hurts him. He is struggling to come to terms with the horrors he witnessed in the second world war.
What is the only book Billy can read on the trip to tralfamadore?
There is no beginning, no middle, no end, no suspense, no moral. . . . In his zoo enclosure, Billy reads the novel
Valley of the Dolls
, the only earthling book available. He learns that Tralfamadorian books are composed of short telegram-like clumps of symbols separated by stars.
What mental disease does rumfoord think Billy has?
Billy breaks his silence and tells Rumfoord that he was in Dresden when it was bombed, but Rumfoord does not take him seriously. He says that Billy is suffering from
echolalia
, a mental disease that makes people repeat things they hear.
What does Vonnegut mean by the word Listen?
The first word of the selection holds a lot of power. Vonnegut starts the selection with a command followed by a colon- “Listen:”. In this way, he not only garners the reader’s attention, but
indicates that whatever comes next is part of the same, important thought
. … “Listen,” says Vonnegut, and you want to.
Why does Billy weep at the sight of the horses?
The Horses
As Billy lies in his wagon in the afternoon sun, two German doctors approach him and scold him for the condition of his horses. … The horses are nearly mad with pain. Billy weeps for the first and last time during the war at the sight of these
poor
, abused animals (9.19-20).
Who is Werner Gluck?
Werner is
a 16-year-old German charged with guarding Billy and Edgar Derby
when they first arrive at Slaughterhouse-Five in Dresden.
What does Campbell write about American POWs in Germany?
What does Campbell write about American POWs in Germany? Basically, Campbell writes
that people in America are poor and those poor people hate themselves
. … He says that there is no fraternity between the soldiers and that American POWs are childish and self-pitying.
Why is Billy Pilgrim unstuck?
Billy Pilgrim’s Struggle with PTSD in Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five. In order to illustrate the devastating affects of war, Kurt
Vonnegut afflicted Billy Pilgrim with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
, which caused him to become “unstuck in time” in the novel.
Who is Billy’s distant cousin?
Bertram’s very young, very beautiful very dim wife. A teenage guard in Dresden who is Billy’s distant cousin though neither of them know it.
Holden Caulfield
: Holden is six feet two and has grown six and a half inches in the last year.
What are Billy’s final words?
Billy says he already knows that he will die because an old, crazed Lazzaro will keep his promise. … Moments after he predicts his own death and closes his speech with the words “
Farewell, hello, farewell, hello
,” Billy is killed by an assassin’s high-powered laser gun.
How many sexes does it take to make a Tralfamadorian baby?
The Tralfamadorians have
five sexes
that are all necessary to make babies. They all look the same to Billy, though, because their sexual differences are in the fourth dimension. The Tralfamadorians tell Billy that they have observed seven sex differences in Earth humans.
Who bombed Dresden in Slaughterhouse-Five?
Code-named Thunderclap, a plan put forth by Allied military leaders to bomb sequentially one large German city after another, the Dresden destruction began the night of February 13, 1945, when
Britain’s Royal Air Force
sent planes to bomb the city.
When did Billy first become unstuck in time?
Billy first became “unstuck in time” in
1944
, during the war. He serves as a chaplain’s assistant and therefore does not carry a weapon—he has received minimal military training.
What is the meaning of poo tee weet?
The Bird Who Says “Poo-tee-weet?” The
jabbering bird symbolizes the lack of anything intelligent to say about war
. Birdsong rings out alone in the silence after a massacre, and “Poo-tee-weet?” seems about as appropriate a thing to say as any, since no words can really describe the horror of the Dresden firebombing.
Why does it make Mary O’Hare happy when the narrator says that he will call his book about Dresden The Children’s Crusade?
Mary O’Hare is the wife of the narrator’s war buddy, Bernard V. O’Hare. She is initially furious with the narrator because she thinks this great Dresden book he’s
writing is going to be a celebration of war
and of his own experiences as a POW. … The narrator promises her he will call the book The Children’s Crusade.
How does Billy describe Dresden after the fire bombing?
How does Billy describe Dresden after the fire-bombing? …
He than travels in time to Dresden and to Tralfamador.
What promise does Lazzaro make to Billy?
Lazzaro explains that he holds Billy responsible for the death of Roland Weary. He also divulges a promise he made to Weary —
he will kill Billy
. He tells Billy to enjoy life while he can. As a time traveler, Billy knows that Lazzaro’s threat will come to pass.
What kind of movie does Billy See backwards?
Billy watches
the World War II movie
forwards; then he watches it backwards. Seeing it backwards removes any suspense about the outcome.
Who is Slaughterhouse-Five dedicated to?
The second person who appears in the book’s dedication after Mary O’Hare is Gerhard Müller, the German taxi driver who takes the narrator and Bernard V. O’Hare to the real-life slaughterhouse where they took shelter from the Dresden firestorm.
What is the significance of the opening scene in Slaughterhouse Five?
This opening section also introduces in important element in the novel: its irony, or
the distance between what the characters desire and what actually takes place
. Here, the cab driver’s wish for peace is undercut by the Vietnam War, which rages even as Vonnegut writes the book.
What is unusual about the first chapter of Slaughterhouse Five?
The first chapter of Slaughterhouse-Five serves
more as an introduction or a preamble than as a typical first chapter in a novel
. More biographical than fictional, it not only relates a good deal of Kurt Vonnegut’s biography, it explains how the novel came to be written.
Why is the book so short and jumbled and jangled according to Vonnegut in chapter one?
It is so short and jumbled and jangled, Sam,
because there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre
. Everybody is supposed to be dead, to never say anything or want anything ever again. Everything is supposed to be very quiet after a massacre, and it always is, except for the birds. And what do the birds say?
Does Billy Pilgrim have schizophrenia?
that
Billy himself suffers from schizophrenia
, and that his antics and experiences with aliens and time travel are simply results of this disease.
Does Billy have PTSD?
There is plenty of evidence throughout the novel that
Billy is suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
(PTSD). … And one of the most prominent symptoms of PTSD—the reliving of horrific past experiences—becomes literal in Billy’s case as he travels in time.
