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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. Where is Dresden located when Vonnegut goes to visit it?

2. What does Billy find outside the inn?

3. Who was in the camp hospital with Billy when he woke up?

4. What did Billy know when he boarded the airplane to Montreal?

5. Who offers the American prisoners shelter after the bombing?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did Paul Lazzaro do to the dog that bit him?

2. Why is Dresden so dark at night?

3. What story does Billy Pilgrim tell Montana when she begs him for one?

4. What is the meaning of the last line of the novel?

5. How did Tobruk's death change the procedure for recovering corpses?

6. Why was the Polish Farm laborer hung in Dresden?

7. Why does Billy travel to New York?

8. Why do people think Billy is brain damaged after his surgery?

9. How did the English prisoners of war view the Americans?

10. What does Montana Wildhack wear around her neck?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

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 addressing the use of humor in Slaughterhouse-Five. How does the author use humor in the book? Use examples from the text to illustrate your thesis.

(see the answer keys)

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