War and Literature
Mrs. Malanka
Spring 2012
Slaughterhouse-Five Reading Schedule and Homework Assignments
Chapter Pages Read by
Day
Wed
Date
2/29 1
2
3
4
5
5
1
23
52
72
87
102 to
22
51
71
86
102
135
Thurs
Mon
Tues
Thurs
Fri
3/1
3/5
3/6
3/8
3/9
6
7
8
136
154
162
153
161
181
Mon 3/12
Tues 3/13
9
10
182
210
209
215
Wed 3/16
We’ll concentrate our reading and discussion on the following question/themes:
1.
How do the aliens in the story relate to Billy's mental state? What is their role/significance in the novel?
2.
Why does Vonnegut mix the genres of science fiction and war novel? What does this accomplish?
3.
How does the concept of time define this novel?
4.
What are Vonnegut's views on war? Why does he choose to include himself in the story?
5.
Explain the significance of Vonnegut’s use of humor and satire.
Homework Questions follow. Please complete these questions in your notebooks for the days that the reading is due, using complete sentences.
Chapter 1: Complete for _______
1.
Explain why Vonnegut has chosen to make this chapter the first of Slaughterhouse-Five rather than making it a preface.
2.
Describe three different attitudes toward war described in this chapter. Who best epitomizes each view? How would you fit your own view into this scheme?
3.
What do you think is the significance of the limerick and the song of Yon Yonson on pages 2-3?
4.
Why do you think the narrator, Vonnegut, loves Lot’s wife for looking back?
Chapter 2: Complete for _______
5.
Draw the Tralfamadorian concept of time and death (see pages 26-7). How do they compare to the Earthling understanding of these ideas? Why might Billy think that explaining the
Tralfamadorian understanding of these two things might help his fellow Earthlings?
6.
Based on your reading of the novel thus far, why do you think Vonnegut created this storyline of time travel and the Tralfamadorians alongside his story of war? What purpose or meaning might it hold?
7.
Discuss the following question: how does Vonnegut depict war and soldiers in Chapter 2. Find a passage from Ch. 2 that captures something important of Vonnegut’s depiction. So far, is his depiction in keeping with his promise to Mary O’Hare and what she pointed out to him about war stories?

8.
Group 5: Discuss Homework Question 2 (see above). Make a list or timeline of the places/points in time to which he time travels. Do any of these points in time stand out to you for some reason? Highlight those.
Chapter 3 Homework Complete for _______
9.
Despite the fact that Billy is a prisoner of the Nazis, their actions are far more humane than the norm for World War II literature. Why does Vonnegut choose to depict the Nazis in this fashion?
Compare the German soldiers to the Americans. How do their differences and similarities affect the message Vonnegut is trying to convey?
10.
Why do you think the narrator pays special attention to the hobo in this part of the story?
11.
What is significant about American POWs no talking to one another: “Nobody talked. Nobody has any good war stories to tell” (55).
12.
In all, Billy is ‘unenthusiastic about living,” (60) but he keeps going anyway. Consider the prayer he keeps framed on his office wall (60). What is significant about this prayer in terms of the part of the novel we’ve read thus far?
13.
The narrator mentions that the railroad cars containing POWs is not bombed because they were not considered fair game (60). Is there, or should there be such a thing as “fair game” when it comes to war?
Chapter 4 Homework Complete for _______
14.
Examine the repetitive imagery of Slaughterhouse-Five . What is its structural role in the novel?
Choose two repeating images and discuss their symbolic role.
15.
Discuss the meaning of the backwards movie Billy watches while he waits for the flying saucer’s arrival. What do Billy’s extrapolations add to the role of this film in the book?
Chapter 5 Homework Complete for _______
16.
It has been said that Slaughterhouse-Five is written in a circular pattern. Find evidence to substantiate this claim within the text. How would you describe the structure of this novel?
17.
Does Billy appear to be maturing or changing over the course of his life? Discuss his character as shown by the novel. If Billy is not changing, what is moving the text?
Chapters 6 and 7 Homework Complete for _______
18.
Why does Vonnegut in Chapter 6 again insert himself into the novel? He says, “That was I”
(146). (He also mentions himself in Chapter 5, pg. 125). What is the point?
19.
Discuss the religious imagery in Slaughterhouse-Five . Is Billy supposed to be a Christ figure?
What is the purpose of the numerous references to Adam and Eve?
20.
The comment that Billy dreamed true things after his brain surgery is highly relevant in the interpretation of Billy’s time travel experiences. What does it mean when the text says that his time travel experiences are true? How does this affect your interpretation of the underlying time structure of this novel and Billy’s reliability as an interpreter of reality?
Chapter 8 Homework Complete for _______
21.
Discuss the books of Kilgore Trout summarized in this chapter. How do they add to and support the themes of Slaughterhouse-Five ?
22.
Billy has an emotional “psychosomatic” reaction to the music of the barbershop quartet.
Afterwards, the narrator says that Billy’s reaction “was proof that [Billy] had a great big secret somewhere inside, and he could not imagine what it was” (172). What might this secret be?
Note: you’ll need to also reread through page 179, when Billy remembers the bombing of
Dresden.
Chapters 9 and 10 Homework Complete for: _______
23.
The meaning of the bird’s chirp at the end of
Slaughterhouse-Five is a matter of much debate.
How do you interpret it? Does it point to the “moral” or message of this novel?
24.
Discuss Billy’s experiences on Tralfamadore. What do they say about Billy’s unmet psychological needs?