Chapters 9 & 10

1-What is the significance of Valencia’s death (in terms of them, plot, etc.)? What is ironic about the transformation in Robert Pilgrim’s character after he joins the Green Berets?

2-Discuss the significance of the narrator’s presentation of the character of Professor Rumfoord. Describe Billy’s attitude toward the bombing of Dresden as revealed in his conversation with Rumfoord. How would you interpret Vonnegut’s presentation of the quotations from the foreword to The Destruction of Dresden?

3-Why doesn’t Billy cry much during the war, and why do you think he does cry about the horses pulling the wagon in Dresden? (Think about the epigraph of the novel: “But the little Lord Jesus/No crying he makes.”) What is the significance of the fact that the German doctors notice the horses’ condition, but “the Americans had treated their form of transportation as though it were no more sensitive than a six-cylinder Chevrolet”?

4-Jesus is mentioned several other times in these chapters. What do you think is the significance of these details?

5-Discuss the significance of Billy’s coming across the Kilgore Trout novels and the magazine about Montana Wildhack’s disappearance in the bookstore.

6-Why are Billy and Montana Wildhack so casual about the potentially upsetting things they say about each other (e.g. that he saw part of a “blue movie” she made and that he was a “clown” in the war)? Discuss the significance of the quote on Montana’s locket: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to always tell the difference.”

7-What do you think is the purpose of the first section of Chapter 10? What is the meaning of the narrator’s later comment regarding the Earth’s future population of 7 billion that “they will all want dignity”?

8-The plot of the novel seems to lack a conventional climax and resolution. Evaluate the last two chapters as an ending to the story. Why do you think Vonnegut chose to end the story the way he did? Discuss the significance of the last line of the novel