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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. What was the prized possession of the Commander who captured Billy and Roland?

2. What was Edgar Derby's job before he joined the army?

3. What play do the English prisoners put on to welcome the Americans?

4. What is unique about the coat Billy Pilgrim gets from the Germans?

5. Where does Billy time travel to while in the showers?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Billy finally get some sleep?

2. What is unusual about the way Tralfamadorans view time?

3. Why do the Tralfamadorans not believe in free will?

4. Why did Roland Weary start to beat and kick Billy?

5. Where were the American prisoners of war kept as they were captured?

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

7. Why does Billy keep a framed copy of the Serenity Prayer in his office?

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

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

10. Why do the soliders not want Billy to sleep near them?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Howard J. Campbell appears in another novel by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr, called Mother Night. Compare the character as depicted in that novel with the Howard J. Campbell that appears in Slaughterhouse-Five.

Essay Topic 2

Is Slaughterhouse-Five an historical fiction or a science fiction? Write an essay defining each genre and answering this question. Use examples from the text to support your opinion.

Essay Topic 3

How does Vonnegut's version of World War II differ from the usual view that we get of the war? Why does he write about this version? Write an essay that analyzes Vonnegut's attitude toward World War II as shown in Slaughterhouse-Five.

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