Slaughterhouse - Five Literary Term: Ambiguity

Ambiguity

• Def.-quality that gives something multiple interpretations
• Ex.- pg. 215, "One bird said to Billy Pilgrim, 'Poo-tee-weet?'"
• C.- Billy and the rest of the Americans were let out of the locked stable they had been staying in because the war in Europe was over. The only sound Billy could hear were the birds "talking."
• C.- The phrase that the bird speaks, "Poo-tee-weet," is ambiguous in its meaning.
• C.- In the aftermath of the destruction of Dresden, the phrase could symbolize the lack of anything intelligent to say about war and that it is as appropriate a thing to say as anything, since no words could really describe the horror of the Dresden firebombing.