Bombing in Dresden

The bombing in Dresden was horrific. It was unexpected. No one thought Dresden would be bombed due to the cities isolation and silence. The bombing was caused by the US and Great Britain. This bombing and the dropping of the atomic bomb have been debatable in terms of if they were justified or not. To me, none of the bombing were justified. Killing innocent individuals who had no part in the war is unjustified.

Chapter 10

The final and last chapter was really in Vonnegut's point of view and when he went back to Dresden. The novel was unusual but interesting at the same time. The one line I saw the most was " So it goes" (214). This line was used at least once in every chpater. The repetition of the phrase kind of stuck in my mind. I think the line was really to tell the reader that everything has a purpose and sometimes we predict the ending and never is what we want it to be. Overall the book was good. I like how the story ended with Billy finding the green wagon.

Atomic Bomb

In chapter nine, Vonnegut references the atomic bomb and a letter sent out by Truman. The atomic bomb had a huge impact in the war. We won the war in Japan with the bomb. It was horrific as well. Thousands and thousands of people were killed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We won the war in Japan, but it was the wrong kind of victory.

Chapter 9

The whole novel is full of allusions, but the one that stood out was in chapter nine. Vonnegut references to a letter by Harry S. Truman: "One of the things Rumfoord had told Lily to get in Boston was a copy of President Harry S. Truman's announcement to the world that an atomic bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima" (185). The reason why it stood out to me was that I had just learned about the atomic bomb this past year in U.S. History. It also was an important letter to the American people. Also in chapter nine, Billy's wife dies. Billy and five other Americans also return to Dresden two days after the bomb to collect souvenirs from war.

Howard W. Campbell Jr.

In chapter seven we are introduced to Howard W. Campbell Jr. He is an American who joined the Nazi party. He came to the slaughterhouse to recruit people for a German military unit known as "The Free American Corps." Campbell was a traitor. He went against the Americans to help out the Nazi party. He is a fictional character, but during World War Two there were a lot of men who joined the Nazi party. With the Great Depression, some people did not trust the American government, so they joined the Nazi party. Others called them traitors, while Hitler approved of Nazis being in America. There were many traitors during World War Two.

Chapter 8

In chapter eight, Billy meets Kilgore Trout and invites him to his anniversary party. At the party is a quartet singing. This bugs Billy, and he has no reason why. Until later, he has a flashback on the day Dresden was destroyed: "Billy thought hard about the effect the quartet had had on him, and then found an association with an experience he had had a long time ago" (177). He remembered that the guards would speak to each other, and it looked like a silence movie of the quartet. The reader time travels with Billy through his meeting with Trout to Dresden to his life in the zoo on Tralfamore back to Dresden.

Sugarbush Mountain

In chapter seven, we learn that Billy survived a plane crash. The co-pilot and Billy were the only ones to survive that crash. Sugarbush Mountain is in Vermont and has a ski resort nearby. The mountain has a huge imapct in the story, because this would be the second time Billy has come close to death. He almost died in Dresden and almost died in the plane crash. Also, the crash is to blame for his mental state and the belief of Tralfamoreaccording to his daughter, Barbara. Also, Valencia, Billy's wife, dies while coming to see Billy in the hospital. Sugarbush Mountain is not a memorable place for Billy.

Chapter 7

This book so far seems to have a lot of exaggerations. The one that stood out to me was "he dreamed millions of things, some of them true" (157). To me, dreaming a lot can happen, but I do not think dreaming millions of stuff is true especially in two days. In chapter seven, we learn about the plane crash that Billy survived. We then travel to Dresden and learn about Billy's job in Dresden. Billy works in a maple syrup factory. He tastes some of the syrup which is illegal for the prisoners to do.

Revenge

Some people say revenge is sweet. To me, revenge is horrible. Revenge is never a good thing. It can be if its a prank. but in terms of killing its bad. Lazzaro is a man who kills and does not joke about anything. He is the kind of man who will make sure that the revenge will be sought. In today's world, we see a lot of people murdered for revenge. Reveng is not sweet. It has become deadly.

Chapter Six

In chpater six, we learn more about Lazzaro with an indirect charactization. Lazzaro says, "Anybody ever asks you what the sweetest thing in life is- it's revenge" (139). Lazzaro is a man of revenge. If somebody crosses him, he will kill them himself or hire some one to kill them. Lazzaro even killed a dog that bit him. To me, Lazzaro has had a bad past and thinks people are out to get him. Later in the chapter, we learn of Billy's death. He was shot in the head by some one who was hired by Lazzo to kill Billy. Billy later arrives to Dresden with one hundred other American prisoners. They were sent there to be hired as labor in Dresden.We learn where Vonnegut got the title of the novel. Slaughterhouse Five is the place the prisoners stayed in while in Dresden.

Kilgore Trout

In chapter five, we learn about the science fiction author, Kilgore Trout. A man, Eliot Rosewater, tells Billy about the author. People loved his ideas but not his books. To me, Trout is kind of Vonnegut in a way. They both write about science fiction and time travel. They also write about aliens as well. They both like to write about unsual topics and scenarios.

Chapter Five

In chapter five, we meet some of the other POWs that Billy meets. One of them is Paul Lazzaro who likes to get revenge on anybody that makes him mad. He was skinny by the time Billy met him. The narrator describes his stomach as "the size of a walnut" (92). When I read that line, the imagery was perfect. I could imagine the look of Paul's stomach. It sounds disgusting but with no food the stomach is going to be the size of a walnut. We also met Edgar Derby, a high school teacher. We also learn more about Billy and how he committed himself to psychiatric hospital. We learn about Billy's wife, Valencia. He was also put on display at a zoo on Tralfamore. We also learn about his honeymoon.

Traveling as a Prisoner of War

During one of Billy's flashbacks, the narrator describes the train ride to a prison of war camp. These train rides were not fancy at all. The prisoners would be piled into the boxcars with no food or sanitation. Many prisoners died before they arrived at the camp. There were many POWs during World War Two, Korean War, and Vietnam. There are even some POWs in the Iraq War today. They are usually not treated right and some were even killed if they tried to escape or for other purposes. No soldier wants to be a prisoner of war.

Chapter Four

In chapter four, the reader begins to time travel or flashback through Billy's life. In one paragraph of the story we begin to flashback to World War Two: "The terrific accleration of the saucer as it left Earth twisted BIlly's slumbering body, distorted his face, dislodged him in time, sent him back to the war" (77). We go back an forth between the war and his abduction by the Tralfamadorians. In between there, we go back to him being bathed by his mother when he was only an infant. These flashbacks occur in every chapter, from one event to the next.

Adam and Eve

In the beginning of the chapter, the narrator introduces the story of Adam and Eve. Billy had heard a story that "if you look [into the boot] deeply enough, you'll see Adam and Eve" (53). We learn that Billy saw Adam and Eve in the boots of one of the German soldiers. We also learn that Billy loves Adam and Eve. I thought it was interesting that Vonnegut would reference Adam and Eve in this unusual tale of time travel.

Chapter 3

In chapter three, we learn more and more about Billy's experience during World War Two. At the start of the chapter, Billy and Roland Weary are getting captured by the Germans. The commander has two teenage boys with him. The narrator describes one of the boys with a simile: "The boy was as beautiful as Eve" (53). The quote was not just a simile but an allusion as well. As the chapter goes on, we time travel to his job as an optometrist and back to the war.

Its a Flying Saucer!!

In chapter two, we learn all about Billy Pilgrim and his experiences in life. For example, he was abducted by aliens. Everyone knows that there are no such things as aliens and that is why no one believed him. People come with these ideas of aliens and flying saucers all the time. I watch Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files sometimes. Well, sometimes they are sent out to invest if someone might have seen a UFO in the sky. Usually, they debunk the UFO with balloons or other objects.

Chapter 2

Chapter Two is when the reader is introduced to the main character, Billy Pilgrim. Vonnegut does a great job of giving the reader a charcterization of Billy. We learn he is born in 1922 and is an optometrist. He has two children and a wife named Valencia. We also learn some personality traits of Billy. One of those traits is "he never got mad at anything" (30). The reader also learns some unsual and exciting experiences that Billy has gone through in his life. One event was being abducted by Tralfadoremians. He was in World War Two and survived the bombing in Dresden. The second chapter was really an introduction to Billy and his life.