Setting

Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five takes place across multiple time periods and locations, revolving around Billy Pilgrim's experiences during World War II. The primary historical setting is the 1940s, particularly the Allied firebombing of Dresden, Germany, in February 1945. However, the nonlinear narrative jumps between different eras of Billy's life, from his childhood in the 1920s-30s to his later years in the 1960s-70s.

Geographically, the novel moves between several key locations. Much of the World War II narrative unfolds in Germany, especially in Dresden where Billy is held as a prisoner of war. Other earthbound settings include Billy's hometown of Ilium, New York, and various American cities. The story also ventures into outer space, as Billy is periodically abducted by aliens and taken to the planet Tralfamadore.

Within these broad settings, Vonnegut creates more specific locales that take on symbolic significance. The titular Slaughterhouse-Five refers to the actual slaughterhouse in Dresden where Billy and other POWs are held during the bombing. The veterans' hospital where Billy recovers after the war becomes a site for processing trauma. His optometry office in Ilium represents his postwar attempts at a normal life. Through these varied settings, Vonnegut explores the far-reaching impacts of war across time and space.

Characters

• Billy Pilgrim: The protagonist, an optometrist and World War II veteran who becomes “unstuck in time” and experiences moments from his present, future, and past—including surviving the firebombing of Dresden—in a non-linear fashion.
• Kurt Vonnegut: The author appears as a character in the novel, describing his experiences in Dresden and writing the book.
• Roland Weary: An aggressive American soldier who was captured with Billy and blames him for his death from gangrene.
• Paul Lazzaro: A vindictive fellow POW who vows to have Billy killed to avenge Weary's death.
• Edgar Derby: An idealistic American soldier executed for stealing a teapot after the Dresden bombing.
• Valencia Merble: Billy's wife, who dies in a car accident on her way to visit Billy in the hospital.
• Montana Wildhack: A young actress abducted with Billy by aliens and placed in a zoo exhibit with him on the planet Tralfamadore.
• Kilgore Trout: A struggling science fiction author whose work Billy discovers and admires.
• Tralfamadorians: Alien beings who abduct Billy and teach him about their four-dimensional view of time and fatalistic philosophy.
• Bertram Copeland Rumfoord: A Harvard professor and retired Air Force brigadier general who shares a hospital room with Billy

Quick facts

• Slaughterhouse-Five was Kurt Vonnegut's first novel to become a bestseller, staying on the New York Times bestseller list for 16 weeks in 1969.
• Slaughterhouse-Five draws heavily on the author’s real-life experiences as a prisoner of war during the firebombing of Dresden, though it took Vonnegut more than 20 years after the end of the war to begin writing the novel.
• The character of Billy Pilgrim was loosely based on Edward Crone, a fellow American POW who died in Dresden.
• The titular Slaughterhouse-Five refers to the actual slaughterhouse in Dresden where Billy and other POWs are held during the bombing.
• The phrase “So it goes” appears 106 times throughout the novel.
• The Tralfamadorians, the alien race in the book, are described as looking like toilet plungers with a hand on top.
• The novel's full title is Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death.
• Slaughterhouse-Five was banned and burned in several US schools in the 1970s due to its language and content.
• A film adaptation, directed by George Roy Hill, was released in 1972 and won the Prix du Jury at the Cannes Film Festival.

About the author

Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007) was an American author known for his novels blending dark humor and elements of science fiction with social commentary. His distinctive writing style featured short, simple sentences to explore complex themes, including war, technology, and the human condition.

Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, Vonnegut studied biochemistry at Cornell University before serving in World War II. As a prisoner of war, he survived the firebombing of Dresden, an experience that would profoundly influence his writing, particularly his most famous novel, Slaughterhouse-Five. After the war, Vonnegut worked as a journalist and in public relations while developing his craft as a writer. His first novel, Player Piano, was published in 1952. Over the next five decades, he would go on to write 14 novels, including acclaimed works like Cat's Cradle and Breakfast of Champions.

Vonnegut was also an accomplished short story writer, essayist, and visual artist. He lectured widely and became an outspoken humanist and pacifist, using his platform to critique American society and politics. Vonnegut's work often grappled with big questions about the meaning of life and humanity's place in the universe, filtered through his sardonic wit and deep empathy for society's underdogs. His unique voice and perspective resonated strongly with the counterculture of the 1960s and 70s, and his books continue to be widely read and studied.