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German Capture
Billy and Weary were captured by the Germans in the woods. The Germans brought Billy and Weary to a collecting point for prisoners of war. The cottage was warm and smoky, and not as bad as Billy would have pictured. Soon after this, they were taken to Dresden. -
Billy is brought to Slaughterhouse 5
When Billy and other Americans are brought to the beautiful city of Dresden, they are placed in a slaughterhouse. When they got there, an English-speaking guard told them to memorize "Schlachthoffunf" as their address in case they ever got lost. This part of the book took so long to get to because although the book is titled after this place, the main theme revolves around the effects of the war happening outside of the building. -
Bombing of Dresden
The British and United States dropped a bomb on Dresden, Germany where Billy was locked up in a stable with other Americans and guards. Between 35,000 and 135,000 people died from this. -
Billy meets Kilgore Trout
After reading many of his books, Billy crosses paths with his favorite author Kilgore Trout in an alley way. Trout was a bitter man. When Billy found Trout in need of help delivering papers, Billy drove him around in his Cadillac. Trout seems to not recognize himself as an author, he is surprised when Billy asks him about his work because he thought nobody had ever heard the name Kilgore Trout. -
Tralfamadorians experience the fourth dimension
When Billy Pilgrim is brought to Tralfamadore, the Tralfamadorians tell him how they view everything in the fourth dimension. This way, they can see the past, present, and future all at once as one moment. They do not get upset when someone dies because they view it simply as an event, and then life goes on because that person lives through their death, in a way. -
Billy gets captured by Tralfamadorians
Billy was kidnapped by Tralfamadorians that came to Earth in a flying saucer. Billy says they brought him to a planet named Tralfamadore and he was put on display in a zoo that was inside of a geodesic dome. In the zoo, he was on display naked and eventually mated with a former Earthling movie star, Montana Wildhack. Of course, this happened due to Billy's PTSD. -
Plane Crash
Billy was on a plane when it crashed on Sugarbush Mountain. Billy stayed in a hospital after the crash where he met Harvard history professor Bertram Copeland Rumfoord. Rumfoord did not believe Billy at first when he said he was in Dresden when it was bombed. Later on, Rumfoord believed Billy's story. -
Valencia's Death
While Billy was in a hospital after a plane crash, Valencia rushed to his side. She was rear-ended on the way and ended up taking off without an exhaust pipe. Carbon monoxide soon filled her car and she arrived to the hospital unconscious. An hour later, she was dead. -
New York City and Radio Show
While Billy is under supervision after his plane crash, he sneaks out and goes to New York City. He plans on getting on television and telling the world the lessons that the Tralfamadorians had taught him. He does not make it onto TV, instead he goes on a radio talk show. Shortly after he begins talking about Tralfamadore, the flying saucers and Montana Wildhack. Billy soon got gently expelled from the talk show. -
Billy's Death
On February 13th, 1976, Billy Pilgrim died. The irony of this date was that it was the same day and month of the Dresden bombing, just a different year. Billy was shot after speaking in Chicago to a large crowd about flying saucers and the true nature of time. Billy knew he was going to die because he has seen his own death several times, he says. Lazzaro was the one who hired men to kill Billy because he blamed Billy for Weary's death.
