Slaughterhouse-Five

1. What is the narrator’s odd social habit?

A) He collects boots from war veterans.

B) He gets drunk and calls up old friends.

C) He keeps retelling the same war joke.

D) He cries in public watching war movies.

2. What type of poem does the narrator quote?

A) haiku

B) limericks

C) sonnets

D) shanties

3. In the narrator’s opinion, what effect did World War II have on everyone involved?

A) It made them very tough.

B) It made them very fragile.

C) It made them less loving.

D) It made them more loving.

4. What curious ability does Billy Pilgrim possess?

A) He can recite all the digits of pi.

B) He can go without any sleep.

C) He can speak any language.

D) He can travel through time.

5. What strange thing does Billy believe happened to him?

A)     He was abducted by aliens.

B)     He walked through fire at Dresden.

C)     He spoke to God and made God laugh.

C)     He was killed and came back to life.

6. What power do the Tralfamadorians possess?

A) They have the gift of hindsight.

B) They can see all of time at once.

C) They can read the minds of planets.

D) They have super speed and strength.

For each of the following questions, write a one-sentence response based on details in the story.

7. The narrator spends years trying to write about the firebombing of Dresden, but what impedes his research?

8. What do the Tralfamadorians say when they see a dead body? 

9. Long after the war, what happens to Billy frequently?

A) He gets lost while driving.

B) He dreams of firebombs.

C) He weeps for no reason.

D) He can’t stop burping.

10. In 1967, what reminds Billy of the Dresden firebombing?

A) a burned-out African American neighborhood

B) the napalm torching of Vietnamese jungle

C) Valencia’s constant snoring at night

D) the noise from his vibrating bed

11. Billy becomes rich in what profession?

A) archaeology

B) anthropology

C) optometry

D) entomology

12. What does a delusional, dying Roland Weary believe about Billy Pilgrim?

A) that he is the Second Coming of Jesus

B) that he caused Weary’s war injuries

C) that he will become a famous doctor

D) that he is a secret agent for the OSS

13. What crime does Roland Weary convince Paul Lazzaro to commit?

A) stealing the corporal’s shiny black boots

B) smuggling Weary out of the prison camp

C) escaping with a letter from Weary to his mother

D) biding his time and murdering Billy Pilgrim

14. How do the other captured soldiers treat Billy Pilgrim?

A) They ignore him.

B) They admire him.

C) They taunt him.

D) They hate him.

For each of the following questions, write a one-sentence response based on details in the story.

15. On the night of his daughter’s wedding, what does Billy see when he tries to watch a war movie?

16. What metaphor is used to explain how the Tralfamadorians see time? 

17. When the English POW officers put on a musical version of Cinderella, what does Billy do while watching?

A) He falls asleep, insulting the English performers.

B) He laughs hysterically and must be hospitalized.

C) He causes a fight to break out in the audience.

D) He jumps up onstage and begins to sing along.

18. What does Billy become when he visits Tralfamadore?

A) a visiting lecturer on human life

B) a specimen in a public zoo

C) a leader of an underground resistance

D) an entertainer on their version of TV

19. What lesson does Billy learn on Tralfamadore?

A) that humans are the worst species in the universe

B) that all human scientific theories are incorrect

C) that all intelligent species derive from Tralfamadorians

D) that a species can learn to live at peace with itself

20. In 1976 while giving a speech, what remarkable statement does Billy make at the end?

A) that the Earth will be destroyed in five years

B) that the bombing of Dresden never happened

C) that someone will kill him as he walks off the stage

D) that no one needs to wear corrective lenses anymore

21. Why does Dresden seem like a good place to be a prisoner of war?

A) It has a very temperate climate.

B) It has no military bombing targets.

C) Nearly all its citizens speak English.

D) Its people hate the German regime.

22. As the prisoners are marched through the Dresden streets, why is Billy a laughingstock?

A) He is the shortest person among the prisoners.

B) He is wearing curtains and silver boots.

C) He keeps laughing hysterically for no reason.

D) He wears a sign that says “Stupid” in German.

For each of the following questions, write a one-sentence response based on details in the story.

23. What does Kilgore Trout do for a living?

24. Where are the prisoners quartered in Dresden? 

25. Of all the passengers, what is unique about Billy when his plane crashes 25 years after the war?

A)     He is the only survivor.

B)     He is the only one who dies.

C)     He is the only optometrist.

D)     He is the only veteran.

26. Because he knows his future, how does Billy behave when a disaster is about to occur?

A)     He is completely passive because he can change nothing.

B)     He always tries to save people as a gesture against fate.

C)     He always says goodbye to whoever is about to be killed.

D)     He warns everyone, but no one ever believes him.

27. At the factory where they must work, what do the prisoners steal?

A)     spoons for digging an escape tunnel

B)     bars of lye-infused soap detergent

C)     small loaves of pumpernickel bread

D)     vitamin-enriched sips of malt syrup

28. Why do the American prisoners survive the bombing of Dresden?

A)     They are in a forest gathering firewood when it occurs.

B)     They hide in the escape tunnel they’ve been digging.

C)     They overpower their guards and escape to the suburbs.

D)     They hide downstairs in the slaughterhouse meat locker.

29. What do the Americans find when they come out after the raid?

A)     Remarkably, almost none of the city is damaged.

B)     Their slaughterhouse is the only surviving structure.

C)     No building is left standing anywhere in the city.

D)     American forces have arrived to take over the city.

30. As the prisoners cross the city, what do American planes do as they fly overhead?

A)     drop leaflets and food supplies

B)     fire bullets at the prisoners

C)     wag their wings in salute

D)     drop more bombs on the city

For the following question, write a one-sentence response based on story details.

31. Where do the prisoners find shelter for the night? 

32. During a stint in a hospital after the plane crash, Billy tells his roommate, a Harvard historian researching the Dresden bombing, about his experience there. How does the historian at first react?

A) He offers to hire Billy as a first-person source.

B) He keeps asking questions until Billy falls asleep.

C) He dismisses Billy’s stories as disordered ravings.

D) He gets excited, faints, and forgets the conversation.

33. At war’s end, Billy spends a night sleeping in a German wagon attached to emaciated horses, and he finally is able to weep about the horrors of war. What prompts him to do so?

A) A passing German couple accuses him of mistreating the horses.

B) The horses die while he sleeps, and the shock of it starts his tears.

C) He must shoot the horses for food, and he hates to do so.

D) The horses are stolen during the night, leaving him no transport.

34. Billy makes one valiant effort to positively affect the timeline. What is it?

A) He tries to get on TV to tell the world about Tralfamadore.

B) He tries to get on the radio to talk about the Dresden atrocity.

C) He warns his wife not to make the fatal drive to the hospital.

D) He finally tells Kilgore Trout about the nature of time travel.

35. Tralfamadorians believe everyone lives forever. What do people do during that eternity?

A) They learn serenity and attain spiritual perfection.

B) They try to change fate but never can overcome it.

C) They seem to die but merely switch to another body.

D) They live the same life over and over, endlessly.

36. Why is the American soldier Edgar executed by firing squad?

A) He kills a guard while trying to escape from the POW camp.

B) The Commandant wants to shoot one last American.

C) As he digs for bodies, Edgar is found holding a teapot.

D) Edgar makes fun of the Commandant, who overhears it.

37. How do the American prisoners know the war is over?

A) The door to the stable where they sleep is unlocked.

B) They hear the distinctive sound of American Jeeps.

C) The Commandant commits suicide right in front of them.

D) The stable owner brings them servings of strudel.

For each of the following questions, write a one-sentence response based on details in the story.

38. In a New York City pornography shop, what books does Billy find?

39. At war’s end, what does Billy listen to? 

1. If you could travel to any time or event in your life (in the past or in the future), which would you pick? Would it be better to live that way or in the normal, sequential way? Make a prediction based on story details in the early chapters regarding the way Billy’s ability might impact the way others treat him.

2. What would it be like to see all times at once? What impact might this ability have on one’s emotions and actions? Use details from the story to discuss how Billy’s viewing of a war movie backwards is a kind of wish fulfillment.

3. Does knowing the outcome of one’s life render it meaningless? Does witnessing the cruelty of war do the same thing? Consider how the cruelty of war and the quirks of time travel interact within the story to address life’s meaning. Cite details from the story to support your discussion.

4. When the American prisoners steal sips of a health syrup meant for pregnant women living in a food-poor country, are the soldiers justified, or is it immoral? When the American prisoners find themselves by chance among the few survivors while most of the citizens die, is their good fortune a positive thing, a terrible irony, or morally neutral? Use story details to support your thoughts on these questions.

5. Tralfamadorians believe there is no free will, yet they are peaceful. Most humans want free will, yet they are often quite violent. Is there a connection between the idea of free will and violence? Considering that he knows his fate, is Billy right to experience his life passively, or should he try to resist that fate? Use details from the story to lend support to your arguments.