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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is "Princess?"

2. What does Billy do when he gets drunk at the party in 1961?

3. Vonnegut dedicates the book to Mary O'Hare and Gerhard Müller. Who is Gerhard Müller?

4. Which college did Vonnegut attend?

5. How long had the British soldiers been prisoners of war?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the story of Sodom and Gomorrah have to do with Vonnegut's book about Dresden?

2. Why were the British officers in this particular camp?

3. What happened to the army scouts who left Billy and Roland behind?

4. What was the Children's Crusade?

5. Describe the structure of a Tralfamadoran novel.

6. How do the Tralfamadorans answer Billy's question about being kidnapped?

7. Why does Kurt Vonnegut use real information from his life in this book?

8. Why is it unusual for Kurt Vonnegut to appear in this book as a character?

9. What does Billy extrapolate happening after the end of the war movie he is watching on the night before his daughter's wedding?

10. Name some of the places in time that Billy travels to in this chapter.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Roland Weary can be said to personify the typical American war hero, while Billy Pilgrim is anything but. Write an essay comparing these two characters. Which is more heroic?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay explaining one of more of the symbols in this novel. Choose the symbol you want to comment on from the list below, or come up with your own.

a) Billy's outfit (silver boots, blue toga, fur muff)

b) Landscapes (the Grand Canyon, the Rocky Mountains, Carlsbad Caverns)

c) Death symbols (the coffin-shaped wagon)

d) The souvenirs kept by the Americans after the war.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay comparing the treatment of the prisoners of war by the Germans to the way prisoners of war are treated today. Use one of the following questions (or your own ideas) to form your thesis:

1) Are prisoners of war treated better or worse now than during World War II?

2) Are the Geneva Conventions still relevant?

(see the answer keys)

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