ENGLISH III
Slaughterhouse Five
Essay page references
Time/memory “triggers”: (Some of these could also serve as examples of Billy’s coming unstuck in
time)
Blue and ivory (pp. 28, 65, 72, 73, 75, 80, 148)
Black and orange on train cars and tent stripes (pp. 71-72)
Barking dogs (pp. 48, 75, 82, 83*, 168)
Derby reading a book while watching Billy in the hospital (p. 99, 105)
Blanket in the hospital (p. 99, 105, 107)
“Poo-tee-weet” (pp. 100, 215)
French doors and a balcony (pp. 119, 199)
The darkened bathroom during their honeymoon as a trigger for the POW camp (pp.123-126)
Montana’s description on Tralfamadore (p. 133)
Sirens (pp. 57, 148)
Barbershop quartet and Polish songs (p. 155); barbershop quartet at the party (pp. 172-178)
Plane crash and rescue (p. 156)
Under observation at the hospital after the plane crash (p.199)
Information on the Tralfamadorians: (and how Billy uses this fictional planet to cope with the war)
pp. 26-27, 71, 76-77, 83*, 91, 111-117, 151 (concept of fate)
Physical destruction of Dresden:
pp. 178-180, 212-214: Vonnegut uses only about six pages describe the destruction of Dresden. Why?
Psychological effects of the war:
Reference to Celine on p. 21 and p. 25
Notion of not wanting to live anymore (pp. 34, 46-48, 184)
The loss of innocence (pp. 53, 66, 68, 74-75)
“Watching” the war film in reverse (pp. 74-75)
The date Billy claims he will die and why this date is significant (pp. 141-143, 179)
When Billy cries (pp. 62, 197)
Billy’s notion of coming unstuck in time: (could also serve as memory “triggers”)
(pp. 23, 30, 42-43—when he hits his head on a tree branch similar, to head wound in plane crash—p. 4648, 49-50, 56, 57, 59, 63, 71,77, 88-91, 99)
Trout and other influences on Billy’s thoughts:
pp. 104, 108-109, 141-142,167, 172-178, 201, 204