... the amount destruction of buildings and infrastructure, monetary losses, and casualties. It is a rare occasion when the psychological damage that the fighting has inflicted upon the survivors is discussed. In Slaughterhouse Five, author Kurt Vonnegut brings this issue to light. During the abovementioned Dresden bombing, Vonnegut was trapped in an underground meat locker (from which the novel is named after) with ... levels of stress, or traumatic events, they develop coping devices - mental barriers to assist them in dealing with their problems. The day after the bombing of Dresden, the...

• Word Count: 2002
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... ," summarizing his emotions. Throughout the novel, the parallels between Vonneguts personal life and Billy Pilgrim illustrate the destructiveness of war. To understand "Slaughterhouse Five," one must first understand the author himself, Kurt Vonnegut. Enlisted in the armed forced to fight in the second world war, Vonnegut ... innocents, mass murdered by a storm of fire. Vonnegut was not among the dead, and escaped death since he was in an underground slaughterhouse with other prisoners of war making vitamin supplements. Vonnegut's 23 year hibernation from writing was due to the event that...

• Word Count: 1395
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... writers in history have written science fiction novels and had great success with them, but only a few have been as enduring over time as Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five. Slaughterhouse-Five is a personal novel which draws upon Vonnegut's experience's as a scout in World War Two, his capture and becoming a prisoner of war, ... man-caused massacre in history. The novel is about the life and times of a World War 2 veteran named Billy Pilgrim. In Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut uses structure and point of view to portray the theme that time is relative. The way Kurt Vonnegut structu...

• Word Count: 1028
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... no matter what. We are going to face hard times in life, but we have to accept that and move forward without looking back and regretting the past. Slaughterhouse Five gives us three views of moving forward: the Tralfamadorian's, Kurt Vonnegut's and poor Billy's view who is stuck in the middle. As we are comparing ... troubles in his life, but since Billy is human, this concept, to him, brings challenge. First, let us take a look at Kurt Vonnegut, the author of Slaughterhouse Five. As part of being human, we have temptations and emotions. We feel sympathy for those around us and feel the...

• Word Count: 1347
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... kids. The men could not think of any particularly good memories or stories, and the narrator noticed that Mary, Bernard's wife (to whom Slaughterhouse Five is dedicated), seemed very angry about something. Finally, she confronted him: the narrator and Bernard were just babies when they fought. Mary was ... begin. MY COMMENTS: I've read several Kurt Vonnegut books in the past, including this one. It has been a couple of years since I first read Slaughterhouse Five, and I'm glad I got the chance to read it again. Vonnegut, in my opinion, is one of the greatest humanist writers of all time ...

• Word Count: 7795
• Approx Pages: 31
• Grade Level: High School

"Slaughterhouse 5," by Kurt Vonnegut is literary masterpiece that reflects the horrors of war and death using science fiction and satirical approach. This anti-war novel centers ... of the metaphorical phrases Vonnegut used throughout the book to help convey the overall messages. The recurring theme "so it goes" is strategically placed 106 times in Slaughterhouse 5. In context, the narrator will reference death of a person(s) and immediately after, "so it goes" followed. The first use of this phrase was ... the other American prisoners. He saw the beautiful city of Dresden before the attack, ...

• Word Count: 1071
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Is the Future Known? (Revision) The book Slaughterhouse-Five is an effort by the author Kurt Vonnegut to try to deglamorize war. He tried to tell people that World War II was not a battle of heroic ... is time it does not change. It does not lend its self to warning or explanation. It simply is. Take it moment by moment." (86) Vonnegut wrote the book Slaughterhouse-Five as if it was written for a Trafamadorian. The importance is not put on the middle or the end but in "The depths of many marvelous moments seen all ... that Vonnegut writes this book to impress upon the reader that while it is...

• Word Count: 1091
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut I.Character List Billy Pilgrim - The main character of the novel. A weak soldier in World War II, Billy learns how to time travel ... , from her point of view. She inspires Billy to name his book The Children's Crusade. Gernard Muller - The friendly cab driver who brought Bernard and Billy to the slaughterhouse in which they were held prisoner in. Paul Lazzaro - An American Soldier, also a prisoner, who befriends Roland Weary. He promises Roland that he will avenge his death, ... sing at Billy's eighteenth anniversary party, and on the plane that crashes, w...

• Word Count: 1657
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

Slaughterhouse Five is the story of a small, timid man named Billy Pilgrim. Billy attended optometry school before being drafted into the United States army during ... forces. 135,000 people - German (civilian and military), Americans, and other allied prisoners of war - were killed. So it goes. The different forms of imagery in Slaughterhouse Five are one of Vonnegut's primary tools for bringing this nonlinear story together. For example, when the pitifully dressed American prisoners of war are being marched through Germany, ... city via train, Vonnegut describes the entire train as if it ...

• Word Count: 1466
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... real controversy lies in its use for essays and assignments by students, its use in fiction is equally as important; specifically, the use of alternative discourse in Kurt Vonnegut's novel Slaughterhouse Five. Slaughterhouse Five is by no means written in a traditional way. There are multiple aspects of Vonnegut's novel that would fall under the category of "alternative discourse." I think that "Time Magazine ... Pilgrim's life like the tassel on a four-year-old's tricycle. Most books we are used to follow a very simple chronological order, possibly with a flashback here or there, and t...

• Word Count: 1507
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Slaughterhouse-five, written by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., is written in a non-linear style. The form is circular, because and the story seems to be cycle, ... to "escape from the concept of linear time, just as their novels are an escape from linear narration- (McGinnis 3). The Tralfamadorian books are written in just the style that Slaughterhouse-five uses. Each clump of symbols is a brief, urgent message- describing a situation, a scene. We Tralfamadorians read them all at once, not one after the other. ... is no beginning, no middle, no end, no suspense, no moral, no causes, no effects (Vonnegut...

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Kurt Vonnegut tells the story of Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse-Five; His uncontrollable time traveling takes Billy back to his experiences in World War II and on the planet which is called Traflamadore. Throughout this novel Vonnegut blatantly disobeys the ... New York City and is on a talk show with literary critics. Here he tells them about Tralfamadore and everything that has happened to him. Tralfamadorian novels have a similar description to Slaughterhouse-5 itself. Both have stories that do not seem to relate to each other while reading it. When they are put together they show a whol...

• Word Count: 990
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

In Kurt Vonnegut's novel Slaughterhouse Five he presents the Tralfamadorians as an influence on Billy for the belief of the idea that fate and free will doesn't exist but the existence of the Tralfamadorians is ... and how life started. Thus Kurt Vonnegut displays fate and no free will to be just as imaginary as Tralfamadorians. Humor in Humans and World War II In the novel Slaughterhouse 5, Kurt Vonnegut uses black humor to reveal the darker side of humans and World War II. One of the most used phrase in the book is "So it goes." The ... ...

• Word Count: 853
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... a new world called Tralfamadore where all is better. He believes he can time travel and sees how events will be played out and how he will die. In the novel Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut portrays how events shape a person's mindset by exploring the past, imaginary, and current world of the life of Billy Pilgrim. The past life of Billy Pilgrim set ... and never gets to see his old life again. Billy loses his judgment to see what is real and what is not and slips further into insanity. In the novel Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut portrays how events shape a person's mindset by exp...

• Word Count: 1265
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... story are true, more or less, and that Vonnegut experienced the Dresden bombings firsthand. The jumbled narrative structure is Vonnegut's way of telling his story of Dresden. The setting of Slaughterhouse-Five is wide-ranged, each place having a significant effect on Vonnegut's story through the life of Billy Pilgrim. The three most important places are Germany during world war two; Ilium ... ...

• Word Count: 521
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... There are many dynamic communities in the book Slaughterhouse Five. The main character, Billy Pilgrim, is a member of several of these communities and plays a drastically different role in each one. In his hometown of Ilium, New York, Billy is ... ...

• Word Count: 728
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The novel Slaughterhouse Five is written by Kurt Vonnegut. Who tells a mixed up story of a man named Billy and his life traveling through time. In this novel I find that the theme of the ... sent to Dresden, to do hard labor. During his stay, the city is bombed and totally destroyed. Billy, some other Americans, and a few German guards hide in the basement of Slaughterhouse Five during the bombing and manage to escape unharmed. Another important setting in the book is the planet of Tralfamadore, where Billy is taken by aliens. There he is held ... ...

• Word Count: 803
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Reading Reaction to Slaughterhouse-Five By Kurt Vonnegut Slaughterhouse-Five sounded like a little above average book in the beginning. I was actually quite pleased that we were required to read it, because I would have probably of not made the right ... ...

• Word Count: 290
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... , Kurt Vonnegut's prophetic vision of time and travel reveals his philosophical view toward free will. Throughout Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut argues that the loss of free will is affected by a parallel of controllable and uncontrollable events that occur in the life of the protagonist, Billy Pilgrim. Vonnegut ... ...

• Word Count: 971
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut appears to be a simplistic story of a man's experiences in World War II. To many people a may be just that. When the plot is looked at closer ... because of the fact that war is so useless. But war just kind of happens or "so it goes". The idea of that leaves you feeling a little hopeless. The book Slaughterhouse Five is certainly excellently written work. This book is honest and it paints no glorious or great picture of war nor does it make war seem at all necessary. It ... ...

• Word Count: 679
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

Throughout Slaughterhouse-Five, both the narrator and Billy Pilgrim treat death as a tragic, yet inevitable, aspect of human life. The narrator imparts many deaths to the reader, but only in an indifferent ... ...

• Word Count: 533
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... . The main character is Billy Pilgrim who is actually Kurt Vonnegut himself. Vonnegut, like Billy Pilgrim, emerged from a meat locker beneath a slaughterhouse into the moonscape of burned-out Dresden. His surviving captors put him to work finding, burying, and burning bodies. His task continued until ... cab driver about life under communism. It is to this man, Gerhard Muller, as well as to O'Hare's wife Mary, that Vonnegut dedicates Slaughterhouse-Five. Muller later sends O'Hare a Christmas card with wishes for world peace. Vonnegut relates his unsuccessful attempts to write about Dresde...

• Word Count: 5323
• Approx Pages: 21
• Grade Level: High School

... a senile widower trying to figure out a way to tell the world of his time on Tralfamadore. He claims he'll eventually be shot and killed by none other than Lazzaro. Slaughterhouse Five ranks number 29 on the American Library Association's list of banned or challenged books (Banned and Challenged Classics). It's been banned or challenged at least 18 times and has ... Classics. American Library Association, 2014. Web. 15, Oct 2014. . Gallagher, Matt. Pilgrim's Progress. The New York Times, 2014. Web. 21, Oct. 2014. Morais, Betsy. The Neverending Campaign to Ban 'Slaughterhouse Five'....

• Word Count: 1646
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... a senile widower trying to figure out a way to tell the world of his time on Tralfamadore. He claims he'll eventually be shot and killed by none other than Lazzaro. Slaughterhouse Five ranks number 29 on the American Library Association's list of banned or challenged books (Banned and Challenged Classics). It's been banned or challenged at least 18 times and has ... Classics. American Library Association, 2014. Web. 15, Oct 2014. . Gallagher, Matt. Pilgrim's Progress. The New York Times, 2014. Web. 21, Oct. 2014. Morais, Betsy. The Neverending Campaign to Ban 'Slaughterhouse Five'....

• Word Count: 1646
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... writing an anti-war/science fiction novel, Vonnegut wrote a tale of the trials and tribulations resulting from the complete and utter destruction of Dresden during World War II. In Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut develops the protagonist, Billy Pilgrim along with utilizing science fiction and satire to demonstrate the destructiveness of war. Vonnegut uses satire and fiction to ironically display the destructiveness ... of war. In Slaughterhouse-Five, "Vonnegut comes at last in direct confrontation with his Dresden experience" (Keogh and Kislatis 172). John Somer adds, "It took him twenty ...

• Word Count: 1339
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography