slaughterhouse 5 ch 1-4

Do you agree with the Tralfamadorians view of time? Explain

No, because I think many decisions you make affect the future, especially education-wise. You could be destined for greatness but the effort in education's gone; well, there goes your future

There is a description of the crucifix that hangs on Billy's wall as he is growing up. Explain this in terms of the war. Explain the statement describing his mother's purchase of the crucifix

The crucifix is gory, like the war, it is full of blood, spear wounds and thorn wounds. His mother brought this to bring stability, but it did not help since she was not religious.

One effect of Billy's time travel is that he seems to be experiencing the war at the same time he's experiencing other events in his life. Give an example from either Chapter 2 or 3 of how Billy is simultaneously experiencing that war and other events in his life

"...he was simultaneously on foot in Germany in 1944 and riding his Cadillac in 1967" -pg. 58

Find a quote that reinforces Vonnegut's idea that machines are dangerous for humans

"There was so much to see - dragon's teeth, killing machines, corpses with bare feet that were blue and ivory" -pg. 65

Vonnegut seems to see war as senseless, something humans should feel shame for doing. Find two things mentioned towards the end of Chapter 1 that support this statement

- He says there's nothing intelligent to say about a massacre and he tells his sons that massacres should never bring them satisfaction or glee.

Based on what Vonnegut's told you so far, list everything you know about Billy's attitude towards death and life

-death doesn't truly exist -people live on in moments in the past, present, and future

Find two vivid images that show the cruelty of war. Consider the river of humiliation

1. "The hinged clogs were transforming his feet into blood pudding" -pg. 642. "Tens of thousands of Americans shuffled eastward, their hands clasped on top of their heads. They sighed and groaned." -pg. 64

Turning your attention to the POW, WWII story line, list 3 things that have changed for Billy

1. Nobody will sleep by him anymore 2. There's no more food being delivered 3. The hobo and Weary both died, so now he's totally alone

Describe the Tralfamadorians and what can be learned from them

They're 2 feet tall and look like plungers with a hand and an eye at the top of the handle. They teach Billy that death only appears to be death, because the moments still live on.

Vonnegut seems to imply that machines have a destructive effect on humans. How does the image of the veteran in the elevator make that implication? Find a quote that relates the idea of machinery to the massacre of war

Guns and machines will kill people. The old veteran made it through the war but was crushed by an elevator and died.

In Chapter 1 Vonnegut tells the reader that he has promised Mary O'Hare that he will not make war glamorous. Give some details that show he is keeping this promise.

He talks about how many teenagers are involved in the war and are much too young. He also bluntly speaks of death without sugar coating.

According to Billy, he comes unstuck in time while he is in WWII. Describe what leads up to his feeling this way and perhaps causes this feeling

His attention went swinging, he was entirely alone surrounded by a violet light, where he believed he had died but gone back to pre-birth. He was just leaning there with his eyes closed.

When a person is under psychological pressure, his mind keeps returning to and "re-playing" the events associated with what is disturbing him. How is this true for Billy? What do you think is creating the psychological pressure in Billy's life?

His ptsd from the war, the plane crash and all other trauma is creating the psychological pressure in Billy's life.

What images are you given in this chapter that Vonnegut has used in earlier chapters?

blue and ivory feet, and Adam and Eve.

The Tralfamadorians see time as fixed; they say we are like bugs in amber. Explain this image.

As moments pass, they are stuck. Moments exist forever

Find evidence to support the idea that Billy is not content even though he becomes a wealthy man

Billy has cheap stuff in his expensive house, he doesn't have any family, a dog or even a servant, and most nights he can't sleep.

In Chapter 2 you're told that the creatures on Tralfamadore "can look at all different moments just the way we can look at a stretch of the Rocky Mountains. They can see how permanent all moments are and they can look at any moment that interests them. I is just an illusion we have here on Earth that one moment follows another one, and that once a moment is gone it's gone forever." How is Billy like the Tralfamadorians? Do you think other people think like Billy does? If so, in what way?

Billy travels in time and believes that death is not real because people still exist in memories. Most people do not think like this, they mostly live life in chronological order.

What is ironic about Billy's survival at the end of chapter 2 and at the start of chapter 3

Billy would have died if he stuck with the rest of the group, he stuck with weary who tried to kill him, and the POW camp was worse than war.

What kind of mood does Vonnegut create in the beginning of Chapter 4? What images help to create this mood?

He creates a very creepy and suspenseful mood, very stressful, he puts in images of his daughter's wedding. he is having a sleepless night, billy's blue and ivory feet, saying his children are gone, and his kidnapping is foreshadowed.

Find evidence to support the irony that Billy finds as much misery in 1967, despite his "comforts", as he does while he is a POW.

He cries and falls asleepn at work, and he is questioing his mental health.

Describe the circumstances of Weary's death

He died of gangrene infecting his feet but he was delirious before his death and blabbed on so much that the whole train car actually learned that Billy Pilgrim "killed" him

After Billy becomes unstuck in time while leaning against the tree, what events of his past and future flash into his mind

He dies, then he is in the womb, then he was about to be thrown into the swimming pool by is father, then he was drowning, he was being visited by his mom, a hospital waiting room, the judge's room, his son's little league game.

Billy starts to hallucinate; find evidence of this in Chapters 2 and 3

He dreams of skating on a ballroom floor in white socks, while he is being cheered on, he also sees a radiating glow over peoples heads and on the treetops and rooftops

After Vonnegut leaves the O'Hares, he begins to think about time. Consider the following references that he makes to time and write one or two statements of the idea of time he's suggesting

He is in a bit of a daze, his time is different than normal time and it skips around and goes slow.

Vonnegut uses vivid imagery to give the reader a clear picture of the point. What image is used for Billy Pilgrim? Find another image that's particularly vivid

He is made out to be very weak and unprepared, another vivid image is The iron maiden

Explain what it means to be "unstuck in time." How does billy Pilgrim feel about that fact that he is unstuck in time

He is thrown into different moments in his life randomly, he feels very scared

Anytime Vonnegut mentions death, he writes "So it goes". Why?

He is trying to think like the Tralfalmadorians and believe that they aren't really gone, because they are still alive in memories.

One of the soldiers Billy is wandering with in the forest is called Roland Weary. Weary is the opposite of Billy and provides contrasts to Billy. How is Weary different

He is very very prepared for war, he has protective clothing, weapons, and is very confident and unafraid.

How does Billy's characterization remain consistent

He never seems to care about anything, he is never really happy, he is just trying to live a normal life.

Vonnegut repeats "he says" twice on Pg. 23. Why?

He repeats himself to show the audience that Billy's mental health is a bit warped. It proves that Billy has PTSD.

Vonnegut ends Chapter 1 with an allusion to the Biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah. The story mentions God's destruction of cities of people. However because Lot and his family are good, God spares them and tells them not to look back at the destruction. Lot's wife does and is turned to a pillar of salt. What is Vonnegut's opinion of Lot's wife and how does this anecdote relate to the purpose of the novel

He thinks looking back is human and that is why he wrote his book of him looking back on the war.

After Billy's head injury from the plane crash, why is his daughter a "flibbertigibbet"

He was senseless, and unfocused, she took on responsibilities and tasks, so she began to annoy him.

Why wasn't Vonnegut able to write about his experiences in Dresden for so many years?

He was so traumatized by his experiences and he could not get his ideas together. He was trying to find the meaning of war.

Why do you think Billy has the "Prayer of Serenity" on his wall

It helps him to keep living his life in a calm way, and tries to accept what he can't.

What point about time and life is Vonnegut making by having Billy watch a WWII movie backwards

It shows how important chronological order is because one way could be very happy, and other could be very tragic

What points does Mary O'Hare make about war stories? What is Vonnegut's reaction?

Mary says that she does not like war books because they glorify war and sugar coat it, Vonnegut completely agrees and promises her that he will not glorify it.

Contrast Paul Lazzaro and Edgar Derby

Paul Lazzaro had the weakest/worst body and Edgar Derby has the best. Edgar was fit, and wanted to be in the war so bad he pulled some strings. Lazzaro was literally rotting away and full of boils and scars. Both had been in Weary's car

Define Pilgrim. How is Billy like this.

Pilgrim-a person who journeys to a sacred place for religious reasons. Billy is like this because he travels through time.

Throughout Chapter 3 Billy travels in time frequently. His mind seems to travel between the war and different experiences in his life. As a result, there are two story lines. One story line is of the war, and the other is Billy's life after the war. Which story line, although broken by the other, remains continuous, picking up and continuing from the same point each time

The war story line is consecutive.

The Tralfamadorians do not even consider the idea of free will. Free will is the idea that people can control their future by the decisions they make. What do the Tralfamadorians think in respect to man's ability to control the future. What advice is given to Billy?

They do not believe in free will and they cannot control the future.

Stream-of-consciousness is a technique that writers use to duplicate the thinking process of people. We think in a process of association; one idea triggers another though, which in turn reminds us of something else and so on. How is Vonnegut using the technique of stream-of-consciousness with Billy? Give an example of the process of association in Billy's thinking

Vonnegut talks about the war and connects the war events to events in billy's life

Science fiction writers often use the creatures they make up to comment on how we do things. What comment is Vonnegut making about us with the Tralfamadorians?

Vonnegut's saying that as humans we spend too much of our time living in the past or future. Instead we should be living each moment on eat a time, separately.

Explain Vonnegut's reaction to the movie-maker's comment about anti-war books, "Why don't you write an anti-glacier book instead?"

because like glaciers, no matter how hard you try you cannot stop war, just like how you cannot stop glaciers.

Vonnegut gives you the actual sequence of events in Billy's life so you can put Billy's experiences in order as you read them. List them

he was born, graduated, drafted into the military, father dies, become a POW, discharged, enrolled in optometry school, got engaged, nervous breakout, married, finished his education, became a rich business man, had children, everyone but him dies in a plane crash, wife dies, meets tralfalmadorians.