Summary and Analysis of Slaughterhouse-Five: Based on the Book by Kurt Vonnegut

By Worth Books

So much to read, so little time? This brief overview of Slaughterhouse-Five tells you what you need to know—before or after you read Kurt Vonnegut’s book.

Crafted and edited with care, Worth Books set the standard for quality and give you the tools you need to be a well-informed reader.
 
This short summary and analysis of Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut includes:
 

• Historical context
• Chapter-by-chapter summaries
• Analysis of the main characters
• Themes and symbols
• Important quotes
• Fascinating trivia
• Glossary of terms
• Supporting material to enhance your understanding of the original work

 
About Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut:
 
Kurt Vonnegut’s New York Times–bestselling novel is one of the twentieth century’s great anti-war novels. It tells the story of Billy Pilgrim, an American soldier in World War II, who survives the firebombing of Dresden. More than a satire of the effects of war, Slaughterhouse-Five is journey through space and time, challenging our perceptions of humanity, free will, and the universe itself. 
 
The summary and analysis in this ebook are intended to complement your reading experience and bring you closer to a great work of fiction.
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Feb 7, 2017
• ISBN: 9781504044028

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Book preview

Contents

Context

Overview

Cast of Characters

Summary

Character Analysis

Themes and Symbols

Author’s Style

Direct Quotes and Analysis

Trivia

What’s That Word?

Critical Response

About Kurt Vonnegut

For Your Information

Bibliography

Copyright

Context

Published in 1969 at the height of the Vietnam War, Slaughterhouse-Five quickly became an icon of the antiwar movement. Its absurdist, black humor struck a nerve with readers, particularly the younger generation at the time. Widely regarded as a masterpiece, it was also Vonnegut’s first major commercial success. His previous novels and short stories had generated positive responses with readers and critics, but it was Slaughterhouse-Five that brought him widespread notoriety. Vonnegut’s use of a nonlinear narrative, an unreliable narrator, and a metafictional style place this book squarely among the great works of postmodernism. Today, it ranks among the great antiwar novels, and many consider it to be one of the best books of the twentieth century.

Kurt Vonnegut’s experiences in World War II inspired Slaughterhouse-Five. Near the end of the conflict, he was captured by the Germans and transported to Dresden, where he and fellow prisoners were housed in a slaughterhouse—Schlachthof-fünf, or Slaughterhouse-Five. In 1945, he witnessed the Allied firebombing of Dresden and survived with the other POWs in a meat locker three stories underground. When he reemerged, he saw that the city had been burned to the ground.

In addition to its antiwar themes, the novel questions why the American public remained largely ignorant of an Allied bombing that was just as horrific as the atomic attacks on Japan.

Overview

An exploration of fate, free will, and the meaning(lessness) of life, Slaughterhouse-Five stands as one of the twentieth century’s greatest antiwar novels.

The protagonist, Billy Pilgrim, is a World War II prisoner of war, a survivor of the Allied bombing of Dresden, as well as an optometrist, husband, father, Lions Club president, and an alien abductee to the planet Tralfamadore. The Tralfamadorians exist in four dimensions, perceiving time to be happening all at once. Billy’s encounter with them results in him becoming unstuck in time and now he jumps, seemingly at random, to different parts of his life. He sees his childhood, his death, his life after the war, his children growing up, his life as a captive on Tralfamadore, and most critically, the bombing of Dresden.

Billy’s experiences as a POW have broken him, and it is only with the unique perception of time granted by the Tralfamadorians that he can put his life back together again. A sensitive soul thrust into a brutal world, Billy Pilgrim can only face his captivity, his comrades,