Slaughterhouse - Five Chapter 6 Focus Questions

1. What is the source of the animal magnetism Billy feels in the prison hospital shed?

• 2 lumps in the lining of Billy's coat

2. What does Lazzaro say is the sweetest thing in life? What story does he tell to prove his point?

• revenge
• how he put sharp points into a steak, which he then fed to a dog that had bitten him and watched him suffer as they cut up his insides

3. How does Billy die?

• killed by Lazzaro

4. What does the Englishman say about Dresden? What type of irony is this?

• "You needn't worry about bombs, by the way."
• dramatic

5. What color are the dead hobo's feet? Where else is it referenced in the book?

• "blue and ivory"
• pg. 28 "His bare feet were blue and ivory."
• pg. 65 "There was so much to see... corpses with bare feet that were blue and ivory."
• pg. 72-75 "He looked down at his bare feet. They were ivory and blue... [he] padded downstairs on his blue and ivory feet... Out he went , his blue and ivory feet crushing the wet salad of the lawn."
• pg. 80 "Billy Pilgrim was lying at an angle on the corner-brace, self-crucified, holding himself there with a blue and ivory claw hooked over the sill of the ventilator."

6. Describe the Americans' arrival in Dresden.

• the Dresdeners viewed the Americans as fools
• a doctor was offended by Billy's outfit, thinking he was making fun of the war

7. Describe the Americans' "home away from home."

• an unused slaughterhouse with bunks, stoves, a water tap, and a latrine, which consisted of a rail fence with buckets under it