“Slaughterhouse Five” (extract) by Kurt Vonnegut

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Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time.

Billy has gone to sleep a senile widower and awakened on his wedding day. He has walked through a door in

1955 and come out another one in 1941. He has gone back through that door to find himself in 1963. He has

seen his birth and death many times, he says.

He says.

Billy is spastic in time, has no control over where he is going next, and the trips aren't necessarily fun. He is in

a constant state of stage fright, he says, because he never knows what part of his life he is going to have to act

in next.

Billy went to New York City, and got on an all-night radio program devoted to talk. He told about having come

unstuck in time. He said, too, that he had been kidnapped by a flying saucer in 1967. The saucer was from the

planet Tralfamadore, he said. He was taken to Tralfamadore, where he was displayed naked in a zoo, he said.

He was mated there with a former Earthling movie star named Montana Wildhack.

Billy wrote a letter to the Ilium News Leader, which the paper published. It described the creatures from

Tralfamadore.

The letter said that they were two feet high, and green., and shaped like plumber's friends. Their suction cups

were on the ground, and their shafts, which were extremely flexible, usually pointed to the sky. At the top of

each shaft was a little hand with a green eye in its palm. The creatures were friendly, and they could see in four

dimensions. They pitied Earthlings for being able to see only three. They had many wonderful things to teach

Earthlings, especially about time.

'The most important thing I learned on Tralfamadore was that when a person dies he only appears to die. He is

still very much alive in the past, so it is very silly for people to cry at his funeral. All moments, past, present

and future, always have existed, always will exist. The Tralfamadorians can look at all the different moments

just that way we can look at a stretch of the Rocky Mountains, for instance. They can see how permanent all the

moments are, and they can look at any moment that interests them. It is just an illusion we have here on Earth

that one moment follows another one, like beads on a string, and that once a moment is gone it is gone forever.

'When a Tralfamadorian sees a corpse, all he thinks is that the dead person is in a bad condition in that

particular moment, but that the same person is just fine in plenty of other moments. Now, when I myself hear

that somebody is dead, I simply shrug and say what the Tralfamadorians say about dead people, which is "so it

goes."'

And so on.

Billy looked at the clock on the gas stove. He had an hour to kill before the saucer came. He went into the

living room, turned on the television. He came slightly unstuck in time, saw the late movie backwards, then

forwards again. It was a movie about American bombers in the Second World War and the gallant men who

flew them. Seen backwards by Billy, the story went like this:

American planes, full of holes and wounded men and corpses took off backwards from an airfield in England.

Over France a few German fighter planes flew at them backwards, sucked bullets and shell fragments from

some of the planes and crewmen. They did the same for wrecked American bombers on the ground, and those

planes flew up backwards to join the formation.

The formation flew backwards over a German city that was in flames. The bombers opened their bomb bay

doors, exerted a miraculous magnetism which shrunk the fires, gathered them into cylindrical steel containers,

and lifted the containers into the bellies of the planes. The containers were stored neatly in racks. The Germans

below had miraculous devices of their own, which were long steel tubes. They used them to suck more

fragments from the crewmen and planes. But there were still a few wounded

Americans, though, and some of the bombers were in bad repair. Over France, though, German fighters came

up again, made everything and everybody as good as new.

When the bombers got back to their base, the steel cylinders were taken from the racks and shipped back to the

United States of America, where factories were operating night and day, dismantling the cylinders, separating

the dangerous contents into minerals.

Touchingly, it was mainly women who did this work. The minerals were then shipped to specialists in remote

areas. It was their business to put them into the ground., to hide them cleverly, so they would never hurt

anybody ever again.

The American fliers turned in their uniforms, became high school kids. And Hitler turned into a baby, Billy

Pilgrim supposed. That wasn't in the movie. Billy was extrapolating. Everybody turned into a baby, and all

humanity, without exception, conspired biologically to produce two perfect people named Adam and Eve, he

supposed.

Billy saw the war movies backwards then forwards-and then it was time to go out into his backyard to meet the

flying saucer.

The Tralfamadorians had no voice boxes. They communicated telepathically. They were able to talk to Billy by

means of a computer and a sort of electric organ which made every Earthling speech sound.

'Welcome aboard, Mr. Pilgrim,' said the loudspeaker. 'Any questions?'

Billy licked his lips, thought a while, inquired at last: 'Why me?

'That is a very Earthling question to ask, Mr. Pilgrim. Why you? Why us for that matter? Why anything?

Because this moment simply is. Have you ever seen bugs trapped in amber?'

'Yes.' Billy in fact, had a paperweight in his office which was a blob of polished amber with three ladybugs

embedded in it.

'Well, here we are, Mr. Pilgrim, trapped in the amber of this moment. There is no why.'

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QUESTIONS:

1. Write briefly about the concept of Postmodernism and the historical framework in which it was born.

2. Read the following quote by Kurt Vonnegut and comment it. Do you agree?:

“One of the great American tragedies is to have participated in a just war. It's been possible for politicians and

movie-makers to encourage us we're always good guys. The Second World War absolutely had to be fought. I

wouldn't have missed it for the world. But we never talk about the people we kill. This is never spoken of.”

3. What is the relationship between the structure of the novel and the idea of Billy Pilgrim being a war

veteran in “Slaughterhouse-Five”? What is the philosophy of this structure?

4. Briefly discuss some of the consequences of a Tralfamadorian view of the universe for a human.

5. Is Billy Pilgrim sane or insane? Discuss this supporting your ideas.

6. Discuss the paradox of free will and predestination. In Slaughterhouse-Five, is anyone able to exercise

free will, or are all things predetermined?

Organization Excellent Content is well organized. Topic is discussed thoroughly. Variation of complex/compound/ complete sentences.

Good Presentation is generally logical. Most information on topic is included. Uses complex sentences.

Average Presentation is somewhat illogical and confusing in places. Information on topic lacking. Uses complex sentences that are too simplistic.

Poor Poorly organized. Incomplete coverage of topic. Not enough complex sentences are used.

Comprehensibility Excellent Reader can always understand what the writer is trying to communicate. Correct use of English vocabulary and expressions.

Good Reader can understand most of what the writer is trying to communicate. Mostly correct use of English vocabulary and expressions.

Average Reader can understand less than half of what writer is trying to communicate. Incorrect use of English vocabulary and expressions.

Poor Incomprehensible throughout. Uses Greek words throughout.

Vocabulary Excellent Writer goes above and beyond, using a wide variety of vocabulary. Correct usage of new or unfamiliar vocabulary. Uses a wide variety of transition and cohesive words.

Good Writer uses a variety of relevant vocabulary. Vocabulary is appropriate to the level and topic. Uses transition and cohesive words throughout.

Average Writer uses some vocabulary. Most of the vocabulary is basic and repetitive. Repetition of transition and cohesive words.

Poor Writer doesn't use sufficient vocabulary. Vocabulary is below the expected level and often irrelevant to the topic. Only basic transition and cohesive words are used or none are used.

Accuracy/Grammar Excellent Writer uses correct grammar, word order, spelling, and noun/adj agreement. Correct sentence structure is used. Accurate use of verb tenses and conjugations.

Good Writer usually uses correct grammar, word order, spelling, and noun/adj agreement. Some errors with more complex structures.

Usually uses verb tenses and conjugations correctly.

Average Writer makes frequent mistakes with grammar, word order, spelling, and noun/adj agreement. Errors begin to interfere with

comprehension. Verb tenses and conjugations are used incorrectly from time to time.

Poor Writer consistently makes errors with grammar, word order, spelling, and noun/adj agreement. Errors with simple and basic structures. Verb conjugations and tenses are inaccurate.

Content Excellent Writer fulfills the requirements of the assignment, answers the prompt completely using creativity and innovation.

Good Writer fulfills all of the requirements of the assignment and answers the prompt completely.

Average Writer fulfills some of the requirements of the assignment, and is sometimes not successful in addressing the prompt.

Poor Writer does not fulfill the requirements of the assignment and does not answer the prompt.