Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Author Kurt Vonnegut Born Nov. 11, 1922 Died Apr. 11, 2007 Age 84 Wrote other books like Cat’s Cradle and Breakfast of Champions

Author Kurt Vonnegut Was in WWII Captured and sent to a POW camp in Germany Witnessed the allied bombing of Dresden.

About the Novel Published at the height of the Vietnam War in 1969, Slaughterhouse-Five is considered by many critics to be Vonnegut’s greatest work.

About the Novel Students who are unfamiliar with Vonnegut’s work may find the format of the novel a bit disconcerting. Vonnegut combines science fiction, autobiography, historical fiction, and modern satire in a “jumbled” depiction of the life of Billy Pilgrim

About the Novel In 1969, the United States was reeling from the growing violence of the anti-war and civil rights movements. The country had witnessed the assassination of two leaders who were considered icons of peace and hope for a better society, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy.

Slaughterhouse-Five--Plot Time Traveling -- Four segments of Billy Pilgrim’s 1922 - his childhood, 1944 - his World War II years, 1968 - his postwar life as a family man and optometrist in New York, his capture by aliens who come from the planet Tralfamadore

Historical Background: Dresden By February of 1945, Dresden was one of the few major German cities that had not been bombed in the Allied campaign to break German morale by targeting entire cities and towns. It had become a major refuge for civilians fleeing the advance of the Soviet Army across Eastern Europe.

Historical Background: Dresden It was also the home of American POWs who, like Vonnegut, had been captured during the Battle of the Bulge. Although there were no obvious military targets in Dresden, allied commanders later suggested that the city was an important communications link between the German armies in eastern and western Europe.

Characters Main character- Billy Pilgrim Travels through time Soldier in WWII Captured and taken to a POW camp in Dresden Survived the allied bombing of Dresden by staying in a slaughterhouse Travels through time Abducted by aliens Put in a zoo on Planet Tralfamadore.

Similarities with the Author Both were POWs in WWII Both witnessed the Dresden bombing Both grew up in New York Vonnegut created Billy to represent himself He wrote Slaughterhouse Five to help him cope with what he experienced

Characters Billy is “unstuck in time.” He relives moments of his life He is abducted by aliens The aliens can see the past, present, and future. They know everything that has and will happen. They tell him that time cannot be changed and that dwelling on the past is pointless.

Literary Devices Irony: Billy survived being killed by staying in a slaughterhouse, a place for death. Any time someone dies the phrase, “so it goes” always follows. This signifies that every death is equal in tragedy. The narrator appears in the novel as a soldier at Dresden with Billy. The author did this to connect his own experiences with the story.