Slaughterhouse-Five, Chapter 1 Study Guide Questions
1. From the title page, you n pretty much guess that in the analogy—Arno:Florence::X:Dresden—X equals?
2. “So it goes” is a sentence that is repeated throughout the novel. It first appears on page 2. If you had to guess what
prompts or initiates each use of the sentence, what would you say?
3. Why didn’t the author make a great deal of money off his experience in Dresden (2)? Hint: How long does it take
him to write the book?
4. When Harrison Starr hears that someone is writing an anti-war book, why does he say, “Why don’t you write an
anti-glacier book instead”(3)?
5. Why does the author bring up the point that even if there weren’t wars, “there would still be plain old death”(4)?
6. When the author drinks, he says his breath smells like mustard gas and roses. These two images appear a few
times throughout the novel. What is mustard gas, a fancy French mustard (moutarde) like Dijon(4)?
7. Explain the irony of poor old Edgar Derby getting shot? What type of irony is it? Verbal, dramatic, situational?
Why? If this is the climax of the novel, what ultimate point do you think the author wants to make about his
experience of the war?
8. Describe the author’s education. What is the most important lesson he learned? Explain the irony. Considering his
war experience, why is his dad’s question appropriate?
9. The city editor was eating a Three Muskateers Candy Bar as she callously asked about the guy squashed by the
elevator (9). Describe the irony.
10. What is the University of Chicago professor implying to the author by bringing up the fact that the Germans made
soap and candles out of fat of dead Jews(10)?
11. Who hated war more—the author and his friends or the author’s boss who during the war had been the Lieutenant
Colonel in public relations in Baltimore? Why? Now explain what the author meant when he said that WWII had
certainly made everybody tough (11).
12. Why do you think the author had to write the Air Force for information on the bombing of Dresden (11)? How
long did it take before the bombing was generally known? Why do you think the information was a secret?
13. Why is Mary O’Hare so angry with the author when he pays a visit to her husband, an old war buddy of the
author’s? Why does the author dedicate his book to her? (14)
14. What did Charles Mackay have to say about the Children’s Crusade?
15. Did Mackay think the Children’s Crusade was worse than the other crusades? Why were the others even worse?
16. Why is Slaughterhouse-Five so short and jumbled in thought and writing style?
17. After a massacre, why do the birds seem to have the last word to say—Poo-tee-weet?
18. What has the author told his sons?
19. What is it about the two authors that this novel’s author values so much that he takes time out of his narrative to
discuss them?
20. Why was this book written by a pillar of salt?
Slaughterhouse-Five, Chapter 1 Study Guide Questions