Slaughterhouse


 * Discussion Time:**
 * Thursday****, January 19,** **12:55-2:25 (5W)**

Nick Lainey Caihlan Snyder Becca Rouda Ian Grover Nicole Hoehle Brittany Parlin Kent Pierce
 * Group Members:**

Slaughterhouse Five

__Pre-Discussion Information__ __Discussion Facilitator:__


 * • Characters **

- **Billy Pilgrim** (Protaganist, Was in WWII, travels through time and accepts the motto- “so it goes” from the Tralfamadorians) - **Valencia Pilgrim** (Fat, Billy’s Wife, Loves Billy more than Anything) - **Roland Weary** (Private with Billy in the war, Hated Billy, Thought Billy was responsible for his death. Has a fascination with weapons and torture) - **Two Scouts** (Part of the “Three Musketeers”, shot quickly after they abandoned Weary and Billy) - **Tralfamadorians** (Creatures from Tralfamador, Could see in the 4th dimension, abducted Billy to learn more about the human race) - **Kilgore** **Trout** (Bitter old man, Wrote sci-fi books, Became Billy’s Friend) - **Maggie** **White** (Illiterate, flirting with Trout at Billy’s anniversary) - **Edger** **Derby** (English Teacher, 44 years old, Killed in Dresden) - **Paul** **Lazzaro** (Crazy Man in the war, Responsible for Billy’s Death, Killed a dog) - **Barbara** **Pilgrim** (Billy’s Daughter, Feels like Billy is crazy even though he’s only 44, Feels like she runs the family) - **Robert** **Pilgrim** (Billy’s Son, Green Beret, Had a troubled childhood but turned out to be successful) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- **Billy’s** **Parents** (Father died in a hunting accident, Mother is a nice woman, Billy is embarrassed to be weak around his mother) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- **Fairy** **British** **Soldier** (plays fairy in Cinderella, breaks Lazarro’s arm, red hair) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- **Hobo** **on** **the** **Train** (Always said that it could be worse, Feet were blue and ivory, Died on the train and was left on the side of the tracks) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- **Bernard and Mary O’Hare** (Kurt Vonnegut’s friends, book is dedicated to Mary for “Children’s Crusade” idea) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- **Montana Wildhac**k (Celebrity Woman, On Tralmafador with Billy, Companions with billy) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- **Wild Bob** (General living in Wisconsin) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- **Eliot Rosewater** (Billy’s roommate at the psych hospital, Loved Kilgore Trout, Also fought in the war) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- **Betram Rumfoord** (Billy’s roommate in the hospital in VT, Harvard Professor, Writing a Book on WWII) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- **Barbershop Quartet** (Friends of Billy’s Father-in- law, died in the plane crash, Evokes memories of the war in Billy) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- **Lily** (Rumfoord’s Girlfriend, Scared of Billy, Really Dumb) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- **Howard W. Campbell** (American Turned Nazi, Evoked American Pride in Derby, Wrote that Monogram)

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Ilium, NY <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Dresden <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- NYC <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Vermont <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- CT <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Slaughterhouse 5 <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-Tralfamador <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Takes place between 1920 something and 1976 <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Germany
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">• Setting **

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Bombing of Dresden: This is the point that he always comes back to in the novel <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-Abduction by Aliens: This is the point where he learns about the truth of time and when he is kept in the zoo <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-When he arrives at the Slaughterhouse: Slaughterhouse is the beginning of the end of Dresden <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- The Psych Hospital: He spends time there, a recent veteran from the war trying to recover. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Marriage to Valencia <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- He meets Kilgore Trout <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Airplane crash: Billy goes to the hospital and his wife dies while driving there. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Billy’s Death: He accurately predicts his own murder.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">• <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Important Plot Events__ **

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">WWII <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Believers and non-believers <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Billy vs. His sanity <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Billy vs. Daughter <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Billy vs. Weary
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">• Conflicts **

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kurt Vonnegut’s narration... <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This helped because while Vonnegut was there, he did not tell the story directly from his point of view. By Choosing to tell the story through Billy, he makes more of an impact on his anti-war statement.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">• Narration **


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">• Qualities of the Journey **

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Caihlan__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Billy starts the Journey as just a plain old optometrist and throughout his journey through time, he becomes a completely different and interesting person with a unique story that combines his experience with war and his experience on another planet.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Nicole__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- I think that it is difficult to tell whether or not Billy grows as a person during the book. This is because his life is scattered, and when you don’t go through events in the right order how can you change? He travels from one moment to another one five years in the past, and still acts the exact same. In my opinion, Billy is always the same person but it is his journey that can change the way that we readers look at life. You shouldn’t regret or deny anything that has happened in your life- because your life should be viewed as a “whole” that you can’t change.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Nick__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Billy starts out as an ordinary kid going to school and preparing for the army. He gets drafted and is brought to WWII. He goes from being a normal soldier to a crazy man who is convinced that he traveled to another planet.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Brittany__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Billy Pilgrim begins his life as a typical, wimpy, and childlike teenager without many views on the world or ideas about his future. He soon proves to be anything but ordinary. As his journey continues, the reader is taken through quantum leaps of time as it is revealed that Billy is a time traveler. The reader is taken to various points in Billy’s life, all related to or somehow affected by his experience as a soldier in WWII. After being abducted by aliens, Billy is taught the lessons of fate and acceptance of one’s life for what it is. Whether he is completely sane or not, Billy’s story shows the reader the effects of war on young soldiers and how the trauma can affect all aspects of their lives.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">__Becca__ - Billy Pilgrim’s story is a confusing and non-linear one. It’s hard to tell whether or not he grows, and whether the growth he experiences is necessarily “good” or “bad”. We know that he started out as an unmotivated, somewhat cowardly kid, but we don’t really know whether he grows towards insanity or towards philosophical enlightenment.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">__Ian__ -As an character in an anti war novel, Billy Pilgrim helps symbolize the loss of sanity by many through war. His journey also demonstrates the horrors of war. Billy changes from a man thrust into the limelight that is the theatre of war into an insane many suffering from PTSD. While Billy may have seemed on the outside to have control of his life, in reality, he did not. Billy becomes a deranged man comparing his life to lessons he learned while abducted by aliens. The book jumps to critical memories and points of Billy’s life that symbolize his being. Each moment is connected to his experience int he war.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 24px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">__Discussion Agenda__

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">• Protocols <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1. Do you think that Billy was mentally insane, or that he actually did time travel/get abducted by aliens? (beginning) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2. What is one passage that made the most impact on you? (middle) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">3. Summarize in 10 words. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">• Discussion Questions <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Why do you think Kurt Vonnegut told the story through another character instead of in a memoir form? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- How strong did you think that Valencia’s relationship actually was with Billy? Was it one-sided? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- How did the ending with the bird relate to the main themes? Why did Vonnegut end the book when he did? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Why do you think the Germans at the camp respected the British prisoners so much? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Did you like the sci-fi aspect of the story? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Do you think it was fair to blame Billy for Weary’s Death? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Do you think that Billy is passive about his own death, when he keeps saying, “leave me here” to Weary? What is Billy’s opinion on death in general? Do you think that the author, Vonnegut, shares this belief? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Do you think that Billy was unfaithful to his wife during the time he was on Tralmafador, because he says he was only unfaithful once, but he impregnated Montana? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- What do you think the most important theme in the story was? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- What is the significance on so much focus on, “poor Edgar Derby” <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Blue, ivory feet were mentioned many times throughout the story, what do you think the meaning of that motif was? (the smell of mustard gas and roses was also repeated) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Billy had a lot of money in his life, do you think he was happy? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Why did Lazzaro have such a big problem? Do you agree that the best thing in life is revenge? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- What do you think of the Tralfamadorian view of life and the “So it goes” motif after every mention of death? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- In your opinion, which is a better title for the book: Slaughterhouse Five, or the Children’s Crusade? Why do you think Kurt Vonnegut decided to include both? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- There is one point in the book where Billy claims to feel the happiest in his whole life. It is while he and his companions are traveling through the ruins of Dresden. Why do you think that this is?

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Outside Resources

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://go.galegroup.com.ursus-proxy-10.ursus.maine.edu/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=RELEVANCE&inPS=true&prodId=LitRC&userGroupName=maine&tabID=T001&searchId=R1&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=1&contentSet=GALE|A97910868&&docId=GALE|A97910868&docType=GALE&role=LitRC__]

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A ways down the article goes on about Billy being traumatized. It would be interesting to talk about if anybody had had PTSD(at lower levels).

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://www.nndb.com/people/928/000022862/__]

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This is an article about the life of Kurt Vonnegut. It is interesting to see what the life was like of the man who thought up Slaughterhouse Five. He was very interested in science fiction, and also had a troubled life in general (he was a self proclaimed atheist, and even attempted suicide). It is interesting that the article says, “He was known for his well-meaning misanthropy.”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/09/28/lifetimes/vonnegut-slaughterhouse.html__]

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This article gives an overview of the book, and the different aspects that went into creating the book, but I thought it was interesting when he said the his book was a failure.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://www.davidson.edu/academic/german/denham/cis100f8/students/slhouse5.htm__] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This is a critical essay about the book. It shows different viewpoints on the book and ways that you could look at it. It’s interesting to look at one person’s view on the book, and compare it to my own thoughts and opinions.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Author:

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Talk about Kurt Vonnegut:

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-Did you like his writing style?

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-Was it boring?

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-As member of the story himself, did you feel connected to him?

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-While you were reading the book, did Vonnegut’s pacifistic feelings translate like he hoped they would?