Chapter 10

     Chapter ten reminds me of every other ending to a book.  The ending is what a person imagines it to be.  I imagined the end of this book being the end of the war and I was right.  Billy and his prisoners digging up ruins reminds me of the band of brothers when they walk into a prison camp.  Trenches are dug out for all the dead bodies of the Jews.  All in all this book was okay, but it was not my type of book.

Chapter 10

     The end of the war is taking place but Billy and his fellow companions are still under German rule.  They are put to work by "paired as digger[s]" (Vonnegut 272) to dig the ruins from the bombing.  Quickly though the Germans have to go fight the Russians and the priosners are free.  The war ends and Billy finds horses and a wagon.  The final words of the book end with a bird talking to Billy which is repition from the first chapter.

Chapter 9

     When I think of chapter nine, I think of family tragedies.  Valencia was so disheartened by Billy's crash that she did not even worry about herself.  Billy and Valencia's daughter was the person most affected by the accident because her mother died, and her father was hurt.  Everyone in this situation was affected in a way.  Billy did not even realize that his wife had died either, which is what makes the sitaution sad.

Chapter 9

     Billy's wife, Valencia dies in this book.  She was in a frenzy to get to the hospital after Billy "was unconcious in the hospital in Vermont," (Vonnegut 233) from a plane crash.  Valnecia gets in an accident herself, but due to her husband being in critical condition she decides to drive on.  The imagery of this is sad because Valencia is driving to the hospital, by herself, crying the whole way without realizing she is dying as well.  She ends up dying from carbon monoxide poisining.

Chapter 8

     In chapter eight, the beginning mainly involves Billy and Kilgore Trout.  This chapter reminds me of a book signing with a famous author.  Billy gets to meet his favorite author out of pure luck.  They spend a lot of time together, but the funny thing is is that Billy is more successful than Trout.  No one knows about him.    

Chapter 8

     Billy meets Kilgore Trout in this chapter who is Billy's favorite author.  Barbara, Billy's daughter, does not like Trout because she blames him for his craziness.  The destruction of Dresden takes place next "on the night of February 13, 1945,'"(Vonnegut 228).  This is ironic because the number 13 has recieved the title of "unlucky".  Billy is lucky though on this day because he is one of the few to survive this horrific bombing.

Chapter Seven

     The only idea I can come up with to relate this chapter to is a ski resort.  I picture being on a ski lift going up the hill when all of a sudden I hear a loud noise.  I see the plane appear in the sky and notice that it is very low and heading straight for the top of the mountain.  When it crashes everyone goes into panic mode and it is a frenzy.  Once all of the passengers are rescued and returned to safety the plane rubbage and debris is cleaned up.  It reminds me almost of 9/11/2001.

Chapter 7

     In the later part of this book, chapter seven, a lot happens.  The plot begins to tumble towards the resolution of the story and Billy is seeing the end of his life much more.  Billy gets on a plane to go to Montreal with other optometrists.  During their flight the plane crashes into a mountain.  Miraculously, Billy is the only passenger on the plane to survive.  A flashback occurs next, and Billy is back in Dresden eating syrup with Edgar Darby but he had to "hid[e] the sticky spoon. Somebody was coming" (Vonnegut 205) and he could've gotten into trouble.

Chapter 6

     This chapter reminds me of mafia movies like Casino, The Godfather, and Goodfellas because of Paul Lazzaro promising Billy he would kill him.  Billy knows he is going to die but can not do anything to stop it from happening.  In mafia movies, people always know when they are going to die because of hits needing to be made.  The way Billy gets killed also is similiar to mafia hits.  Billy was shot from a distance and nobody knows who did it.  The only person who knows anything about his killing is Billy because Paul Lazzaro arranged it.

Chapter 6

     The American Prisoners of War are moved to Dresden.  Billy is the joke of the prisoners as usual because he was not meant to be a soldier in the war and is not properly dressed.  A man, who is a surgeon, sees him in Dresden and believes he is trying to dress funny.  He thinks that Billy "find[s] war [to be] a very comical thing" (Vonengut 193), but Billy doesnt respond to him.  Billy can not help it that he keeps being compared to a clown (metaphor).  He took what clothing he could find and is trying to stay warm.

Chapter Five

     Chapter five is relatable to a relative spending a week at another family members house.  At first, everyone is excited to be together, but after a while the happiness fades away.  The owners of the house get tired of picking up messes, but they don't do anything about it.  Finally, the relative leaves to go back home.  After this happens, everyone is happy.  In slaughterhouse-five though, there is no happy ending.

Chapter Five

     Chapter five is full of events which is expected from being the longest chapter.  At this point in the plot American prisoners of war are being moved into a prisoner camp where British soldiers are living.  The british "looked in astonishment at the frowsy [americans who] so lustily waltzed inside." (Vonnegut 123).  They were surprised at how scrawny and unhealthy the American soldiers looked.  The British were expecting strong brave soldiers who could easily defeat the enemy but instead they discovered weak soldiers.

Chapter 4

     This chapter reminds me of the movie Chicken Little strictly because of when Billy becomes abducted by aliens.  In Chicken Little, Chicken Little sees an alien UFO in the sky and tells the whole town.  No one believes him, so everyone thinks he is crazy and unintelligent.  That is besides the point though because when Chicken Little spots the UFO it has a laser beam shoot down and abduct things.  In this book, Billy says that a laser shot down on him forcing him to grab on to the rope ladder which then took him into the UFO.

Chapter 4

     During the beginning of this chapter, Billy's daughter is getting married.  Billy is constantly time traveling, but he is currently in a past state of mind because he has already lived this part of his life.  Billy knew "He had an hour (to kill) before the saucer came." (Vonnegut, 93).  He went and stood in his back yard when he knew the saucer would be there to kidnap him.  Once on the ship the tralfmadorinans begin to discuss free will with him.  They state that Earth is the only planet that has this idea of "free will". 

Chapter 3

     This chapter reminds me of when I wish that I was somewhere else during an awkward or unwanted situation.  I think that Billy Pilgrim wishes he was not in the war and that is why he keeps becoming unstuck in time.  I see this as day dreaming.  Sometimes in school people fall asleep.  When this happens they dream of being somewhere else that makes them happy because they are unhappy being in school at that moment.  Billy does the same thing when he is in a rough situation.

Chapter 3

     Vonnegut starts off chapter three by continuing with the previous situation from chapter two.  Billy Pilgrim and Weary are captured by German soldiers in Luxembourg.  Pilgrim keeps time traveling and switching in and out of his two lives (duality).  Billy was in his optometry office and then "he closed his eyes. When he opened them, he was back in World War Two again." (Vonnegut, 73).  The one life is in his previous state, which is World War II, and the other is in his normal day life back in his home town.  Billy becomes unstuck in time, and this is the root of causing him to flashback.

Chapter 2

     Chapter two can be compared to the later part in persons lives. As a person grows older their brain deteriorates which causes them to not act normal.  Everyone does this at a different pace.  The younger generations take notice of this and begin to feel like they should take care of their family member or friend.  Billy's daughter thinks that her Dad has gone crazy from a brain injury in a plane crash.  She does not realize that Billy is telling the truth.  He can see life in different ways due to an alien abduction.  She feels embarrassed of her dad because it is highly unlikely that this happened and her father is publicly displaying the information.

Chapter 2

     In Chapter two of "Slaughterhouse-Five" repitition is used frequently.  Billy Pilgrim, the main character, experienced an alien kidnapping by tralfamadorians.  They provided unknown knowledge to Billy about death and how they percieve it.  The tralfamadorians see death as a part of life in which a person is unhealthy.  In their own world, they see the past, present, and future all at the same time unlike Americans, who only live in the present.  During his time on Tralfamadore, Billy picked up the phrase "so it goes" (Vonnegut. 45).  He uses this phrase to indicate a death has happened.  Billy utilizes this phrase to describe multiple deaths that have happened throughout his lifetime in chapter two.

    The beginning of this book reminds me of war movies such as "Saving Private Ryan" and "Band of Brothers".  A main character (Vonnegut) reflects on their war efforts.  During their reflection, they explain how memories of war scar them for life as well as others.  Veterans share their stories just like Vonnegut so that people will realize that war is not healthy.  There are other ways to solve problems.  Do not get me wrong though, I think war is necessary in order to keep the world at peace.

      In the first chapter of Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut explains the process of how his book came to be. He provides insight to why he wanted to write this book and explains that "all [of] this happened, more or less. The war parts, anyway, are pretty much true." (Vonnegut, 1). The author talks about how he fought in Dresden, and that it is hard for him to recall events that took place. He knows this though, and that is the war was scary and corrupted many peoples lives. Vonnegut searches for an old war friend of his and together they use time travel to discuss ideas for the book.