History Literature / SlaughterhouseFive

* AnyoneCanDie: And ''so many'' do. [[Justified Trope It is a war, after all]]. Some characters' deaths (Billy's, Derby's) [[ForegoneConclusion are explicitly mentioned by the narrator long before they ever occur]], some are a little more unexpected [[spoiler: Roland Weary]].

* AnyoneCanDie: And ''so many'' do. It is a war, after all. Some of the deaths (Billy's, Derby's) [[ForegoneConclusion are explicitly mentioned by the narrator long before they ever occur]], others happen spontaneously and can be rather jarring (examples of the latter include [[spoiler: Wild Bob, the hobo]] and '''''especially''''' [[spoiler: Roland Weary]]).

* {{Bishounen}} One of the German soldiers who first capture Roland and Billy, to the point where he's described as looking like Eve from the Bible.

* Bishonen: One of the German soldiers who first capture Roland and Billy, to the point where he's described as looking like Eve from the Bible.

* Bishounen: One of the German soldiers who first capture Roland and Billy, to the point where he's described as looking like Eve from the Bible.

* ArcWords: "So it goes."

** Then, on the last page of the book, the smell of rotting bodies is likened to... [[RunningGag guess what]]?

->It begins like this: ''"Listen: Billy Pilgrim has come {{unstuck in time}}."'' It ends like this: ''"Poo-tee-weet?"''

Why aliens, and why time travel? Because Vonnegut wanted to write about his experiences in WorldWarII, but he didn't want to write a story about BigDamnHeroes. Instead, his character is simply a meek observer: Billy gets to see the war and the world from a distance, objectively, as if through the eyes of aliens.

* AlternateAesopInterpretation: In-universe, the moral of [[TheBible the New Testament]] is hypothesized as really being "Before you kill somebody, make absolutely sure he isn't well connected."

** Kilgore Trout is based on Theodore Sturgeon (he of [[SturgeonsLaw Sturgeon's Law]]), a RealLife science fiction author who was a friend of Vonnegut's.

** As well as Killgore Trout and Eliot Rosewater.

* LongTitle: ''Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death by KurtVonnegut, A Fourth-Generation German American Now Living in Easy Circumstances on Cape Cod [and Smoking Too Much], Who, as an American Infantry Scout'' Hors de Combat, ''as a Prisoner of War, Witnessed the Fire-Bombing of Dresden, Germany, "The Florence of the Elbe", a Long Time Ago, and Survived to Tell the Tale. This is a Novel Somewhat in the Telegraphic Schizophrenic Manner of Tales of the Planet Tralfamadore, Where Flying Saucers Come From. Peace.''

** The first chapter, in which Vonnegut discusses his writing of the book, has Vonnegut toying with the idea of making Edgar Derby's death the climax of the novel -- a sort of appropriately retroactive LampshadeHanging.

-->Billy had a framed prayer on his office wall which expressed his method for keeping going, even though he was unenthusiastic about living. A lot of patients who saw the prayer on Billy's wall told him that it helped them to keep going, too. It went like this: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom always to tell the difference." Among the things Billy Pilgrim could not change were the past, the present, and the future.

** [[AliceInWonderland "Drink Me"]].

* ContinuityNod: Howard W. Campbell, the protagonist of Vonnegut's earlier work ''MotherNight'' makes an appearance, working for the Nazi propaganda effort.

* ContinuityNod: Howard W. Campbell, the protagonist of Vonnegut's earlier work ''Literature/MotherNight'' makes an appearance, working for the Nazi propaganda effort.

** More than that, the Tralfamadorians reveal to Billy that ''humans'' have many more than two sexes, its just that we can only perceive two because the others exist in the fourth dimension.

* HumansAreSpecial: How much this specialness matters is arguable, but according to one Tralfamadorian, "I've visited thirty-one inhabited planets in the universe.... Only on Earth is there any talk of free will." Otherwise, they're seen as [[HumansAreMorons idiots]].

** Roland Weary refers to himself and the two scouts traveling with him as TheThreeMusketeers.

* WarIsHell: Mrs. O'Here certainly feels this way and this is proven in a surprisingly non-{{Anvilious}} way.

** The narrator also says that the climax will be when Edgar Derby is shot for stealing a teapot, and that is probably the textbook example of a deliberate anticlimax.
** On a more meta example, the prologue explains [[ForegoneConclusion exactly how the book will end]].

* ApocalypseHow

* BlessedWithSuck

* HumansAreSpecial: How much this specialness matters is arguable, but according to one Tralfamadorian, "I've visited thirty-one inhabited planets in the universe.... Only on Earth is there any talk of free will."

* Crowning Moment of Awesome. Sorta, when Edgard Derby confronts Campbell.

** Christ alone knows what "Tralfama" means.

* MeanginfulName: Tralfama - ''[[ThePictureOfDorianGray dorian]]''. Like Dorian Gray, the Tralfamadorians are able to move through time, unaffected by it.