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1st Time Traveling Experience
From the forest in Europe Billy jumps in time to his death, then to his pre-birth, and then stopped when he was a little boy and taking a shower. He is young and his father is going to throw him into the deep end of the pool to teach him how to swim. Next, he traveled in time until he was 41 and visiting his mother. Then he traveled in time to his son's little league dinner in 1958. Then he traveled to 1961 and it was New Year's Eve where he was at a party. Billy had been in the war a little bit -
Arrival in Dresden
The Americans arrived in Dresden at 5 in the afternoon. The city is described as one of the loveliest the Americans had ever seen, and Billy arriving in Dresden is referred to as Dorthy arriving in OZ. The city had not been destroyed by bombs, the Americans were guarded by young German soldiers. While in Dresden the Americans do labor work and live in Slaughterhouse 5. The place had been built as a shelter for pigs to be butchered, they had bunks, 2 stoves, a water tap, and a latrine. -
Dresden Firebombing
Billy was in the meat locker the night the bombing occurred, the meat locker was a very safe shelter. The Americans and four of their guards were down there. Billy explains to Montanna how the guards reminded him of the quartet. He told about the destruction of the city, and all the people who had died. The Americans went to a inn in the suburbs that provided them food and shelter. At the party with Trout Billy becomes self aware of his issues of PTSD, he acknowledges that he has a problem. -
The End
At the end of the novel Billy and KV's stories are intertwined, KV reflects on the things that Billy taught us like the Tralfamadorians way of thinking. It talks about how KV and O'Hare traveled back to Dresden and so did Billy Pilgrim, two days after the war. It also focuses a lot on death and how many people have all passed away. In the last chapter Derby is shot because he was caught with a teapot that he took from the catacombs. And somewhere in the springtime World War 2 in Europe ends. -
Veterans Hospital
3 years after the war has ended, and Billy was in a ward for nonviolent mental patients. He committed himself, he thought he was going crazy. While here he bonded with Rosewater about the meaning of life and they took interest in a author, Trout. We also learn Billy hides from his mother because she made him feel embarrassed and ungrateful and weak because she had gone through so much trouble to give him life, and Billy didn't want life. We also learn he is engaged, but thinks she is ugly. -
Kidnapping by Tralfamadores
Billy was kidnapped when he was 44 years old, the night of his daughters wedding. He describes first hearing them as hearing a melodious owl, but it was actually the sound of the flying saucer navigating through space and time. The saucer had portholes around it’s rim and the light coming from them was pulsing purple. The only noise it made was the owl song. It hovered over Billy and enclosed him in a cylinder of pulsing purple light. The talked to Billy through a computer program. -
The Zoo
In the Zoo Billy lived under a dome because the air outside was poisonous. He was displayed in a mock Earthling habitat with stuff stolen from a Sears. He has a couch that could be converted into a bed, a chair, end tables, and lamps with ash trays on them, a home bar, pool table carpeting, kitchen, and a bathroom. The dome had no walls and no place to hide. Tralfamadorians came to admire and observe Billy and ask him questions which would be relayed to Billy by the little keyboard instrument. -
Flashbacks
When Billy flashes to 1967 he is rich, owns a cadillac, and has 5 optometrists working for him. He also has a problem where he falls asleep while working and where he cries almost everyday. When Billy flashes forward he flashes forward and is flashing to things that remind him of the war. For instance he hears sirens, and drives through a destroyed ghetto which all remind him about fighting and bombings. So essentially he isn’t really “flashing forward.” -
Plane Crash
Billy and 28 other optometrists boarded a plane to take them to a convention in Montreal. While on the plane Billy's father in law asked the quartets to sing songs and two of the songs the sang reminded Billy of the war. The first was about a Polish person which reminded him of the Polish guy he saw hung in Dresden. The quartets reminded Billy of the war and his time spent with the 3 musketeers. The plane crashed in Vermont and everyone died except Billy and the copilot. -
Valencia dies
Billy was in the hospital after surviving the plane crash, and his wife was in a rush to get to him. While on her way there she got in a car accident and was perfectly fine, but then she continued driving to the hospital and her exhaust had fallen out, she died upon arrival from carbon monoxide poisoning. This scene shows that everyone around Billy dies and death is inevitable and can't be predicted or expected. While Billy is in the hospital he meets Rumfoord who has a different outlook on war.
