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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 interrupts Billy's attempt at napping?

2. How do the Tralfamadorans make Billy climb the ladder?

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

4. Who is Barbara Pilgrim?

5. How did Billy Pilgrim learn to swim?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What parts of Ilium remind Billy of the ruined towns in World War II?

3. When does Billy Pilgrim first experience being unstuck in time?

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

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

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

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

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

9. Where does Billy wake up after falling asleep with the other prisoners in the stone cottage?

10. Why do the Germans need to record the names of the prisoners?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Read a memoir written by someone who lived through World War II, either as a combatant or as a civilian living in Europe. Write a report on the book, highlighting the part that deals with the experience of living through wartime.

Essay Topic 2

How does luck figure into Billy's Pilgrim's life? Is he a lucky person or an unlucky person? Use examples from the novel to argue your thesis.

Essay Topic 3

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.

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