Slaughterhouse-Five

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, including free will and fatalism.

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?

The novel is semi-autobiographical -Vonnegut witnessed the firebombing of Dresden, Germany as an American POW incarcerated in a former slaughterhouse - and was written at the height of the Vietnam War.  How do you think Vonnegut’s experiences at Dresden and America’s involvement in Vietnam contribute to the anti-war message of the book?

Slaughterhouse-Five is among the most frequently banned works in American literature. Why do you think this is the case?

If you have read other works by Vonnegut, what themes, settings, and characters run through his novels?