Slaughterhouse-Five story
A writer tells a story in random order of how he was a soldier in World War II and was abducted by aliens.
16 total · 7 major · 9 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| alien abduction | major | Billy and Montana Wildhack were abducted by aliens and taken to the planet Tralfamadore. |
| free will | major | The Tralfamadorians said that of all the inhabited planets they visited, they only encountered the notion of free will on Earth. The also explained about how a Tralfamadorian would bring about the end of the universe by pressing the wrong button when testing an experimental fuel. The idea was that it was absurd to try to stop him from pressing the button because it was already determined. |
| husband and wife | major | Billy Pilgrim and Valencia Merble Pilgrim. Stanley and Billy's daughter. |
| military related work | major | We saw a group of Allied soldiers, including Billy, being held as prisoners of war by the Germans. |
| time travel | major | It appeared that Billy was able to experience the events of his life in a unconnected manner. |
| war crime | major | We saw Billy live through the fire bombing of Dresden and it was mentioned that 135,000 people died. The bombing of Hiroshima was mentioned. |
| World War II | major | Billy Pilgrim became dislodged in time and somehow relived some of his experienced as a soldier in the Second World War. |
| antisemitism in society | minor | Campbell, an American who'd defected to the Nazis, asserted that "You can't trust the Jews". |
| communism | minor | Both the traitor Campbell and Billy's son talked about the need to defeat the communists. |
| father and daughter | minor | Billy and his teenage daughter. |