Slaughterhouse Five

by Kurt Vonnegut  |  Grades 11-12

Slaughterhouse-Five is one of the world's great anti-war books, centered on the infamous fire-bombing of Dresden. Billy Pilgrim has become "unstuck in time" and lives his life in non-sequential bits, cursed (or blessed) to relive his days as a WWII prisoner of war, his marriage, the death of his wife, and his abduction by the Tralfamadorians. Central to Vonnegut's novel is this burning question: How do we find meaning in the fractured segments of our own lives, especially in those moments so painful that we cannot let them go?

Available Teacher Guides, Novel Units, Lesson Plans, and Activities for Slaughterhouse Five: