Slaughterhouse-Five
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Reading and Writing Workshop
Slaughterhouse-Five
Author Focus: Kurt Vonnegut
Genre: Anti-war novel, Science Fiction, Satire
Session 1: Understanding War and Anti-War Literature
Objective: Explore how Vonnegut’s novel critiques war by comparing it with historical and literary depictions of warfare.
Core Reading:
Write a reflective response comparing the portrayal of war trauma in Owen’s poem and Vonnegut’s depiction of Billy Pilgrim. How do both works challenge traditional narratives of heroism?
Session 2: Time, Memory, and Trauma
Objective: Analyze Vonnegut’s use of non-linear narrative and its relationship to trauma and memory.
Core Reading:
Using Whitman and Vonnegut, write a short piece on how fragmented narrative structures reflect psychological wounds from war.
Session 3: Science Fiction and Satire as Social Critique
Objective: Evaluate the role of aliens and absurdity in criticizing human behavior, particularly around war and death.
Core Reading:
Write a satirical travel narrative inspired by Tralfamadore or Laputa, where the absurd becomes a mirror of human folly.
Session 4: Fate, Free Will, and Fatalism
Objective: Examine Vonnegut’s philosophy on determinism and compare it to classical literary treatments of fate.
Core Reading:
How does Vonnegut’s treatment of fate differ from Sophocles’? Write an argumentative essay addressing whether Billy Pilgrim is truly “unstuck in time” or simply passive.
Session 5: Death and the Absurd
Objective: Analyze the refrain “So it goes” in the context of absurdism and philosophical reflections on mortality.
Core Reading:
Compare Tolstoy’s and Vonnegut’s treatment of death. Is “So it goes” a resignation, a coping mechanism, or a philosophy?
Session 6: Why Slaughterhouse-Five Was Banned
Objective: Investigate the reasons for the novel’s censorship and debate the role of controversial literature in education.
Discussion Topics:
Write a persuasive essay or editorial defending or opposing the teaching of Slaughterhouse-Five in schools, using Milton and real censorship cases as support.
Session 7: Final Project – Reimagining Narrative and Genre
Objective: Synthesize themes and techniques from the novel by creating a unique narrative or analytical piece.
Options:
Author Focus: Kurt Vonnegut
Genre: Anti-war novel, Science Fiction, Satire
Session 1: Understanding War and Anti-War Literature
Objective: Explore how Vonnegut’s novel critiques war by comparing it with historical and literary depictions of warfare.
Core Reading:
- Slaughterhouse-Five, Chapters 1–2
- Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen (1920)
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10326
Write a reflective response comparing the portrayal of war trauma in Owen’s poem and Vonnegut’s depiction of Billy Pilgrim. How do both works challenge traditional narratives of heroism?
Session 2: Time, Memory, and Trauma
Objective: Analyze Vonnegut’s use of non-linear narrative and its relationship to trauma and memory.
Core Reading:
- Slaughterhouse-Five, Chapters 3–4
- The Wound-Dresser by Walt Whitman (1891)
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1322
Using Whitman and Vonnegut, write a short piece on how fragmented narrative structures reflect psychological wounds from war.
Session 3: Science Fiction and Satire as Social Critique
Objective: Evaluate the role of aliens and absurdity in criticizing human behavior, particularly around war and death.
Core Reading:
- Slaughterhouse-Five, Chapters 5–6
- Gulliver’s Travels (1726) by Jonathan Swift – “Voyage to Laputa”
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/829
Write a satirical travel narrative inspired by Tralfamadore or Laputa, where the absurd becomes a mirror of human folly.
Session 4: Fate, Free Will, and Fatalism
Objective: Examine Vonnegut’s philosophy on determinism and compare it to classical literary treatments of fate.
Core Reading:
- Slaughterhouse-Five, Chapters 7–8
- Oedipus Rex by Sophocles (translated by F. Storr)
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31
How does Vonnegut’s treatment of fate differ from Sophocles’? Write an argumentative essay addressing whether Billy Pilgrim is truly “unstuck in time” or simply passive.
Session 5: Death and the Absurd
Objective: Analyze the refrain “So it goes” in the context of absurdism and philosophical reflections on mortality.
Core Reading:
- Slaughterhouse-Five, Chapters 9–10
- The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy (1886)
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2246
Compare Tolstoy’s and Vonnegut’s treatment of death. Is “So it goes” a resignation, a coping mechanism, or a philosophy?
Session 6: Why Slaughterhouse-Five Was Banned
Objective: Investigate the reasons for the novel’s censorship and debate the role of controversial literature in education.
Discussion Topics:
- Violence, profanity, sexual content, anti-war themes
- Book bans in schools and libraries
- The 1973 Drake, North Dakota school board burning copies of the book
- Areopagitica by John Milton (1644) – a defense of freedom of speech
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/608
Write a persuasive essay or editorial defending or opposing the teaching of Slaughterhouse-Five in schools, using Milton and real censorship cases as support.
Session 7: Final Project – Reimagining Narrative and Genre
Objective: Synthesize themes and techniques from the novel by creating a unique narrative or analytical piece.
Options:
- Write a short story using non-linear narrative and speculative elements to explore a social issue.
- Create a “time traveler’s diary” that reflects historical trauma.
- Compose a multimedia presentation analyzing the impact of war literature.
- The War Prayer by Mark Twain (1905)
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17192