Slaughterhouse-Five Chapter 5, Section 23 Summary

  • Next to Billy's bed are two pills, an ashtray with three cigarettes, and a glass of water.
  • The cigarettes belong to Billy's mother, who has headed to the bathroom.
  • Billy covers his head with a blanket whenever his mother comes to see him at the mental hospital.
  • She upsets him because she is his mother: she has gone to so much trouble to give Billy life, but Billy doesn't even like life.