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Slaughterhouse-Five
These book club questions are from the Teaching Guide issued by the publisher, Penguin Random House, and written by Susan Corley.
Book club questions for Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Use these discussion questions to guide your next book club meeting.
After reading the book, why do you think that Vonnegut dedicated his novel to Mary O’Hare and Gerhard Muller?
Why does Vonnegut choose to write a “jumbled and jangled” war book?
What is the significance of the phrase “so it goes”?
What is the significance of the bird cry “poo-tee-weet”?
Explain the subtitle, The Children’s Crusade or a Dirty Dance With Death.
Discuss the major themes of Slaughterhouse-Five?
How does Vonnegut use time to communicate his themes?
Discuss the use of irony in the novel.
Are we intended to believe Billy’s tales of Tralfamadore or are we, like Barbara, supposed to assume that Tralfamadore is a figment of Billy’s post-brain-damaged imagination?
Slaughterhouse-Five Book Club Questions PDF
Click here for a printable PDF of the Slaughterhouse-Five discussion questions