Slaughterhouse-Five

Sample Lesson - Introduction

Lesson 1.01: Will the Real Kurt Vonnegut Please Stand Up?

Vonnegut never actually wrote an autobiography, but if he had, we like to think he'd have called it "I Was a Teenage Malted Vitamin Syrup-Maker."
(Source)

In 1944, the German Army captured a young American soldier named Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. and sent him to the city of Dresden to make malted vitamin syrup for pregnant women (it's the details that really make history).

After about a month in Dresden, the British and American air forces bombed the city, creating a firestorm that ended the lives of over 20,000 people and utterly destroyed Dresden.

About 25 years later, that young soldier, now a middle-aged author, finally wrote about his experiences in the war—about being a prisoner of the Germans, about the bombing of Dresden. But, he didn't exactly write an autobiography, even though he (sort of) included himself as a character.

Sort of.

Vonnegut published Slaughterhouse-Five while America was embroiled in the Vietnam War, and the novel's anti-war themes resonated with the young people who opposed the war. But that's not all the book had to offer—it's also deeply philosophical, with insights about why people go to war, how people experience time, and whether or not they have the power to choose their own fate. Also: time travel, because why the heck not?

Sample Lesson - Reading

Reading 1.1.01: Wibbly-Wobbly, Timey-Wimey

Here's a helpful heads up: the actual story of Slaughterhouse-Five starts in Chapter 2. Chapter 1, however, still gives us a lot to chew on. In fact, most of the keys to understanding the novel and Kurt Vonnegut's point of view are found right here. He even tells us why he's writing the story in the first place.

Which is important, of course, since you're probably wondering why you're reading this novel in the first place. To learn more about the horrors of WWII? To see how people grapple with the psychological and ethical repercussions of war? To get your sci-fi fix on?

Yes to all of that, and then some. Slaughterhouse-Five challenges us to ask such heavy questions as:

• How should we treat other people, even if they're enemies of our country?
• How should we think about tragedies, and how should we deal with them after they've happened?
• Which is more tragic: a single pointless death, or thousands of them?
• Is there any such thing as a villain in real life? Is there any such thing as a "hero"?

Preview our hilarious video about the book, and then keep these questions in mind as you make your way through Chapter 1—and the rest of the novel.

The Beginning Before the Beginning

Chapter 1 kicks off with the narrator visiting Dresden in 1967 to research his book about his experiences there during World War II. He's having a hard time writing about it because his memories don't feel very useful, and the U.S. government doesn't want to talk about it. He's not even sure where the climax of his story should occur.

A good chunk of the chapter is a tapestry of tangents that Vonnegut uses to elaborate on the themes of death and destruction. For example: He reads about the French novelist Louis-Ferdinand Céline, who believed that death was the fundamental truth behind everything. He reads about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in a Gideon Bible. He finishes by introducing the novel, announcing that it will be a failure, because it was written by a pillar of salt, like Lot's wife who looked back in the Biblical story. Fun times.

Crack open your copy of S-5 (yes, we're on nickname terms), and read Chapter 1 for yourself. As you read, consider the following questions:

• How is the narrator telling us that "all this happened, more or less" set up the expectation that this won't be a totally faithful autobiography, but still truthful in spirit?
• What does the "Slaughterhouse" of the title refer to?
• Why is the Mary O'Hare angry at the narrator? What is the significance of the name, "the Children's Crusade" in describing World War II?
• The narrator describes a series of events that occurred after the war that reveal how the war affected him and shaped his beliefs:
  
  • A movie-maker tells him that writing books against war is about as effective as writing books against glaciers.
  • His work at the Chicago City News Bureau reveals that the war changed his reactions to seeing dead and injured people.
  • His college studies in anthropology taught him that no one is truly evil or a villain.
  • He believes that the best and kindest veterans were those served in combat.

What themes do you see emerging here? And how does all this jumping around help prepare us for the nonlinear narrative of the wider book?

When you're done, check out Shmoop's summary of the chapter to make sure you didn't miss a thing.

Protip: in a lot of ways, this first chapter is Vonnegut's way of giving us a code for reading the rest of the novel, which gets pretty bonkers at times. It's where he gives us practice with the nonlinear logic, and also offers little nuggets of ideas that develop into full-fledge themes over time. Suffice it to say, we'll be coming back to Chapter 1 frequently for clues for reading the wider book, particularly when it comes to direct statements about war such as:

• "...There would always be wars, that they were as easy to stop as glaciers."
• "You were just babies in the war – like the ones upstairs!"
• "I have told my sons under no circumstances that they are to take part in massacres, and that news of massacres of enemies is not to fill them with satisfaction or glee."

Sample Lesson - Activity

Activity 1.01: Narrators Gonna Narrate

There's one character in a novel who almost everyone leaves out when they list the characters—the narrator. Narrators are tricky. Sometimes they're the direct voice of the author. Other times, they might appear in the story and interact with the other characters, like Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby.

Some narrators can be unreliable, or even out-and-out lie to the reader (lying is, of course, very, very wrong. In real life. In a story, it can make for some interesting narrative stuff). Some narrators don't even know what's really going on in the story. At the end, they're often as surprised as we are.

You had one job, narrator.

In the spirit of all things narrative, let's take a closer look at Slaughterhouse-Five's narrator, i.e. the guy who's speaking in Chapter 1, and who's writing the novel that will begin in Chapter 2. In particular, we want to determine just how close the narrator is to actually being Kurt Vonnegut, the author-dude.

Let's get to investigating.