Slaughterhouse Five

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut:
Discussion Prompts

Instructions: For each chapter, select at least two (2) prompts to which to respond. Always respond specifically. I suggest you read through the questions for a chapter before you begin reading it, and then jotting down page numbers as something of interest appears. This will you will help you in the long run. (Trust me; it’s exceedingly difficult to find something you want to cite from this novel once you’re through reading it!) You should also feel free to jot down your own questions or thoughts as you read.

Themes: Vonnegut presents a number of themes throughout the novel (see below). As you read, consider what seems to be important to Vonnegut, and how he presents his concerns.

Time and Death (What does Vonnegut suggest about these intangibles? What issued does he take with them?)
Fate versus Free Will / Passivity versus Agency (Which one does Vonnegut prefer? How do we know? How might this connect to our discussions of existentialism/Master and Slave Souls?)
War (What points does Vonnegut make about war? How does he show us this?)
Innocence Corrupted
Technology versus Nature

Note: Vonnegut uses motifs (repeated images or ideas) to connect seemingly unrelated incidents, usually caused by the main character’s jumps through time and space. The questions will periodically reference these motifs, which include clocks and time, nestling like spoons, mustard gas and roses, entrapment/imprisonment, dogs barking, birds tweeting, and the ever-present “So it goes.”

Chapter 1

Why might Vonnegut repeatedly stress that some of what happened is true?
What’s the purpose of chapter 1? Who’s speaking, and how do we know?
How does Vonnegut seem to feel about technology?
How does Vonnegut seem to feel about war and death? How do we know?
What purpose does Mary O’Hare serve for Vonnegut? Why use Mary for this purpose, and not, say her husband Bernard?
What’s the deal with Bernard V. O’Hare? How is he characterized? Why does Vonnegut keep referring to him by his full name?
What larger point does Vonnegut make in his analogy to Sodom and Gomorrah, and Lot’s wife?
Vonnegut makes several references to clocks and time beginning in Chapter 1. What point do you think he’s making about time?
Based upon this chapter, would we characterize Vonnegut as a Master Soul or a Slave Soul? Defend your response with specific reference(s) to the text.
Why tell us how the novel will begin and end?

Chapter 2

How is this chapter different from chapter 1? Why do this, if you’re Vonnegut?
What do we learn about the life and personality of the protagonist, Billy Pilgrim? What additional information does his name tell us about him?
Explain what it means to be “unstuck in time.” Do you think this is possible? You might want to do some research on the physics of this question to help you formulate ideas.
As we read the novel, we will begin to notice the repetition of the phrase, “So it goes” whenever a death is mentioned. What is the effect of this device? What seems to be the author’s intention?
In Slaughterhouse-Five Vonnegut makes use of motifs---repeated images, symbols, or ideas----which subtly connect characters, events, episodes, etc. Clocks and time, for example, are used as motifs by Vonnegut (see Chapter 1, where the motif begins). Find at least two of these associations thus far and explain what connects to what. Cite page numbers for your own reference. Can you infer the author’s intention in his use of this literary technique?
What do the Tralfamadorians look like, and how is this silly, parodic, ridiculous?
Where does Vonnegut use irony and satire in this chapter, and to what purpose?
Vonnegut says that characterization is practically non-existent in this novel. What do you think he meant? Are Billy Pilgrim and Roland Weary not characterized? If characterization is not important to Vonnegut, then what is?

Chapter 3

Follow Vonnegut’s theme of technology as destructive.
Vonnegut wrote Slaughterhouse-Five at the height of the Vietnam War. Thematic links appear in this chapter. Cite them and consider how Billy’s reaction to them differs from Vonnegut’s.
Point out some references to water in this chapter and explore their metaphoric function. Keep context in mind as you interpret!
Because the purpose of satire is to ridicule or scorn, the reader or viewer of such a work may feel little sympathy for characters, events, etc. Nevertheless, Vonnegut sometimes does evoke an emotional response in his readers. Give an example of a moment when we are expected to feel something like sympathy or pity for a character. How does Vonnegut make us feel these emotions, in spite of his uses of irony and flat characterization?

Chapter 4

Begin to follow and analyze the motif of “spooning.”
What are some images of innocence featured in this chapter? What happens to innocence, and what commentary is made with these images?
On page 74, Billy, while slightly “unstuck in time,” watches a television movie about a World War II bombing raid, only he views the movie in reverse. Explain the meaning of this passage in the context of your developing understanding of the book.
How would you describe the morality of the Tralfamadorians, as they are depicted on pages 76 and 77? What do they symbolize for Vonnegut? Does he like them? Explain.
Chapter 4 features many images of entrapment. Follow and analyze them. Why are so many images of entrapment the same as images of innocence? What is Vonnegut’s point?
Some literary critics see Billy as a Christ figure. Why? If this is true, what is Vonnegut suggesting about Christ? What do you think of this interpretation?

Chapter 5

Reread the description of the Tralfamadorian book. How is Vonnegut writing a book in this style? Why would this style be appropriate to his topic?
Consider the irony inherent in the situation with the English POWs.
List some references to light and darkness in Chapter 5 and explain how these symbols might connect to themes in the novel. You can do the same for sight and blindness.
On page 101, Vonnegut tells us Billy and his friend Rosewater both found life meaningless after their experiences in the war. Both were “trying to re-invent themselves and their universe. Science Fiction was a big help.” One of the themes that emerges in Slaughterhouse-Five is deception as a means of survival, fiction as a means of making sense. Human beings reinvent themselves, and escape despair---often through their fabrications. Art is such a fabrication. Where is this theme scene in Chapter 5? How does this relate back to Nietzsche’
Before he was a novelist, Vonnegut was a scientist. He studied biology, chemistry, mechanical engineering, and anthropology. He enjoyed the company of scientists. His brother was a well-known physicist. Einstein’s theories were some of the hottest topic sin science circles in Vonnegut’s day. How might those theories relate to Slaughterhouse-Five?
Consider Billy’s habitat in the Tralfamadorian zoo. What does it symbolize or suggest?
How is Billy’s life on Tralfamadore similar to the one he had/might have on Earth? What is Vonnegut suggesting about Billy’s state of mind by incorporating these similarities?
How is the satiric treatment of religion, specifically Christianity, further developed in this chapter?
How are women portrayed in this chapter? Is Vonnegut a misogynist? How does Mary O'Hare fir into this?

Chapter 6

What portrait of politics and political leaders does Vonnegut present in this chapter?
Many critics say Billy Pilgrim could be a literary allusion to The Pilgrim’s Progress, a famous 17th century allegory by John Bunyan. In what ways is the novel like an allegory?
What is the ironic significance of the novel’s title Slaughterhouse – Five?

Chapter 7

How does Vonnegut want us to feel about the people of Dresden? Explain, using examples from the text.
Explain Vonnegut’s purpose in the statement, “Everything was pretty much all right with Billy” (157).
At the beginning of the chapter Vonnegut tells us that Lionel Merble “was a machine.” Vonnegut then adds: “Tralfamadorians, of course, say that every creature and plant in the Universe is a machine.” Why is Merble a machine? Do you see evidence one way or another in this chapter to suggest that Billy is a machine?
In an earlier chapter we were told that death, to the Tralfamadorians, is only a sort of hum, a comforting background sound. Vonnegut artfully has inserted a variation on that hum into this chapter. Explain the symbolism employed by Vonnegut.
What commentary is Vonnegut making with the syrup lollipop (160)?

Chapter 8

Explain the symbolic purpose of the character Howard W. Campbell, Jr.
We have seen that Vonnegut periodically interjects himself into the narrative with commentary. One example at the top of page 164 is especially important. Explain.
Explain the character of Kilgore Trout in relation to the themes and other characters of the book.
Discuss the effect of the barbershop music on Billy in this chapter. Billy does not travel through time to experience this. Why is this significant?
Is the underground meat locker in slaughterhouse 5 a phallic or a yonic image? Then, discuss the significance of the image and the Americans’ survival of the bombing in light of this symbolism.
Discuss the symbolism of the scene at the inn, with the innkeeper and his wife, and the treatment of the Americans, in light of developing motifs and themes in the book. Consider, in particular, religious allusions and the fact of the innkeeper’s blindness.

Chapter 9

Vonnegut uses Rumfoord’s research, juxtaposed with Billy’s personal experience, as a literary device to view the Dresden firebombing and the Hiroshima bombing from several moral and political perspectives. Explain what this juxtaposition does for Vonnegut.
On rare occasions throughout the novel, Billy rises above his listlessness, albeit just barely. Cite one such example in Chapter 9 and consider Vonnegut’s purpose.
Billy’s “rebellion,” however, also takes a pathetic turn in this chapter. Explain.
How is the prayer that Montana wears around her neck relevant? Where have we seen this prayer before in the novel?

Chapter 10

Why are the Tralfmadorians more interested in Darwin than Jesus? What is Vonnegut’s tone in the line, “Charles Darwin, who taught that those who die are meant to die, that corpses are improvements” (210)?
How does the narrative point of view change in the last chapter? What is the effect of this literary strategy?
On page 213, Vonnegut tells us, “Prisoners of war from many lands came together that morning” to begin digging for corpses. A Maori (a person of Polynesian origin who lives in New Zealand) works side by side with Billy Pilgrim. What is Vonnegut’s meaning/ purpose in providing us with this information?
Why do you think Vonnegut juxtaposes Edgar Derby’s death with the descriptions of the corpse mines? What do both images represent?
What is Vonnegut’s purpose in using the bird’s poo-tee-weet to end the novel?
Do you believe this conclusion to be responsible or irresponsible? Explain and support your thinking.

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Slaughterhouse Five

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