Slaughterhouse 5 Blog

PREWRITING.doc

Please list 10 ways you can improve your essay scores

1.Prepare more                                                                    

2.Take more time

3.Don't rush an idea

4.Talk to Mr. Cheng more

5.Come in early every now and then

6.Go to the writing center

7.Talk to my abnormally good looking para Erik

8.Review my papers with my case worker

9.Get familiar with the Diana Hacker handbook

10.Have peers look over my papers and give constructive thoughts

Please write any 15 thoughts about the book Slaughterhouse-5.  For each thought, please refer to a specific part of the book that generated this thought (for instance, “It was funny” receives no credit; “It was funny when he described the Tralfamadorians” receives full credit).

1.It is interesting how well the Americans are treated by the Germans compared to the Jews.

2.It was funny how Kurt Vonnecut relates everything to sex.

3.I like when Kurt Vonnecut has you thinking about Billy in the war for a second and the next he is on Tralfamadoria.

4.I like the mix of fiction and non fiction togeather.

5.I wonder if Billy was suffering from a mental disorder.

6.Many signs in the book point towards Billy dealing with Post Trumatic Stress Disorder

7.I wonder why Vonnegut included himself in the Dresden portion of the text

8.I believe, after some research, that Kilgore Trout IS Kurt Vonnegut

9.It makes me wonder about what kind of treatment that the mentally ill recieved in that era

10.How does Billy's life go on after his death, if we look at the book from a Tralfamadorian sense?

11.Who else was in the Tralfamadorian Zoo?

12.I would have liked to know more about what happened to Montana Wildhack.  Why does Billy never go in detail about the supposed child they had?

13.I wonder how the public reacted when the novel was published?  Did THEY see it as an anti-war book?

14.Do previous opinions on the book still hold true today?  Does our current situation globally change anything?

15.I wonder why Vonnegut decided to make Billy so meek and dumb?

State 5 possible themes for the book Slaughterhouse-5.

1. War can have a terrible effect on the mental state of soldiers.

2. A man is defined by his values and how he acts.

3.Everything is impermanent.

4.Sex is a frightening or alternately dull thing.

5.Death can only be understood by those that see it firsthand.

Write a conversation between yourself and Billy Pilgrim in which he tries to teach you a lesson based on his own experiences.  You must explain IN DEPTH at least 3 specific events and details from the book in order to receive full credit.  This conversation should go on as long as it takes to demonstrate YOUR UNDERSTANDING of Billy’s experiences.

Billy: Hey hey hey Matty!

Me: What's poppin' big dog?

Billy: So have you finally understood all the ideas about Tralfamadorian time?

Me:...

Billy: Seriously, its some crazy stuff.

Me: Billy, YOU'RE some crazy stuff.

Billy: No it makes a lot of sense.  Tralfamadorians see time in a very different way.  They see our entire lives set out before us.  It is like looking at a kalideoscope of events.  They are all pre-determined but still moving.  It is why they don't get sad about death.  It just means that the person who died is in a bad spot at THAT moment.  Not every single moment.

Me: Billy, you need to get some help. 

Billy: Also, did you watch those Montana Wildhack films that I sent you?

Me: Yeah Billy, that was weird.  Why were you sending me sixty year old dirty movies?

Billy: First, I thought you'd dig understand the cinematic history that lead up to Paris Hilton's film career but I also wanted to brag that she and I totally hooked up on an alien planet.