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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 do stars look like to Tralfamadorans?

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

3. What does one of the German soldiers do to Roland Weary?

4. What does the Marine major tell Billy at the Lion's Club?

5. What happened when Lot's wife looked back on Sodom and Gomorrah?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. How did Billy finally get some sleep?

3. What does it mean that Billy Pilgrim is "unstuck in time?"

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

5. Why is Billy afraid to drop down from the railroad car?

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

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

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

9. Why does Vonnegut say this book will be "jumbled and jangled?"

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

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

What would you say was Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.'s purpose in writing this novel? What is the main message of the story? Support your conclusion with quotes or examples from the novel, or interviews with the author.

Essay Topic 3

Compare Vonnegut's story structure with conventional novels. How does his free associative writing affect the story that he is telling?

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