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Slaughter-House Five - Part I Trivia Quiz

A multiple-choice quiz on Kurt Vonnegut's classic "Slaughterhouse-Five", focusing on the first half of the book.

A multiple-choice quiz by oofahlandian. Estimated time: 4 mins.

Author
oofahlandian

Time
4 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
250,897

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
15

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
9 / 15

Plays
1270

Awards
Top 35% Quiz

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 15

1. What did Harrison Starr, the movie maker, say when the narrator said he was writing an anti-war book? Hint

"Have you nothing better to do with your time?"

"Why don't you write an anti-glacier book instead?"

"Let me know when you're done. Perhaps we can make a movie of it."

He made no comment.

NEXT>

Question 2 of 15

2. What is the subtitle of "Slaughterhouse-five"? Hint

The Fire-Bombing of Dresden

The Children's Crusade

Billy Pilgrim's Adventure Through Time

We Were Just Kids

NEXT>

Question 3 of 15

3. Where was Billy Pilgrim born? Hint

Illium, NY

Boston, MA

Philadelphia, PA

Lake Wood, ME

NEXT>

Question 4 of 15

4. What was Billy Pilgrim during World War II? Hint

A Major

A Chaplain's Assistant

An Anti-Tank Gunner

A civilian

NEXT>

Question 5 of 15

5. What made a "ripping sound like the opening of the zipper on the fly of God Almighty"? Hint

A 57 mm Anti-Tank Gun

Becoming Unstuck in Time

A Panzer Tank

A V2 Rocket

NEXT>

Question 6 of 15

6. At a New Year's Eve party in 1958, why couldn't a drunken Billy find the steering wheel of his car? Hint

Someone had stolen it to prevent him driving in his condition

He was sitting in the back seat

He wasn't actually in the car

He had passed out and was dreaming

NEXT>

Question 7 of 15

7. What was not a bumper sticker on Billy's Cadillac El Dorado Coupe de Ville when he visited 1967? Hint

Support Your Police Department

Visit Ausable Chasm

Impeach Earl Warren

Peace Now

NEXT>

Question 8 of 15

8. What was the fate of the two scouts who abandoned Billy and Roland Weary in the creek bed? Hint

They reach safety in France

We are not told

They are shot in a German ambush

They are captured and reunited with Billy and Weary

NEXT>

Question 9 of 15

9. What did the dying colonel on the German side of the Luxemburg border want to be called by his men? Hint

Red

Wild Bob

Killer

Ace

NEXT>

Question 10 of 15

10. When Billy visited 1965, he was at his mother's side. What did she whisper tearfully to him? Hint

"I thought you were dead."

"Why are you here?"

"How did I get so old?"

"Who are you?"

NEXT>

Question 11 of 15

11. The narrator tells us "It was all they had, and they'd wrecked it". What was he referring to? Hint

German youth forced to fight near the end of the war

The American fifth division

A Jewish temple in Dresden

A black ghetto in upstate New York

NEXT>

Question 12 of 15

12. According to the narrator, what is a lovely thing for a woman to be? Hint

A teacher

Rebellious

A housewife

A nurse

NEXT>

Question 13 of 15

13. What refrain does Vonnegut use repeatedly after mentioning death? Hint

Requiescat in pace

Amen

So it goes

Rest in peace

NEXT>

Question 14 of 15

14. Provide the missing word: "Billy is __________ in time, has no control over where he is going next, and the trips aren't necessarily fun." Hint

moving

traveling

stuck

spastic

NEXT>

Question 15 of 15

15. What color light did Billy sense when visiting his own death in the future? Hint

Violet

White

Red

Only darkness

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. What did Harrison Starr, the movie maker, say when the narrator said he was writing an anti-war book?

Answer: "Why don't you write an anti-glacier book instead?"

From the book: "What he meant, of course, was that there would always be wars, that they were as easy to stop as glaciers. I believe that, too."

2. What is the subtitle of "Slaughterhouse-five"?

Answer: The Children's Crusade

The narrator promised Mary O'Hare he would call any such book about the war this. It eased her temperment.

3. Where was Billy Pilgrim born?

Answer: Illium, NY

Born in 1922, he was the only child of a barber, who was shot dead by a friend in a hunting accident. Vonnegut decribes him as "tall and weak, and shaped like a bottle of Coca-Cola".

4. What was Billy Pilgrim during World War II?

Answer: A Chaplain's Assistant

As the narrator says, "he was a valet to a preacher, expected no promotions or medals, bore no arms, and had a meek faith in a loving Jesus which most soldiers found putrid."

5. What made a "ripping sound like the opening of the zipper on the fly of God Almighty"?

Answer: A 57 mm Anti-Tank Gun

Roland Weary was part of the crew that fired such a weapon at a German Tiger tank with no success. The weapon left a long line in the snow which allowed the tank to zero in on the attackers and kill all but Roland Weary. "So it goes".

6. At a New Year's Eve party in 1958, why couldn't a drunken Billy find the steering wheel of his car?

Answer: He was sitting in the back seat

This was after the first and only time he had cheated on his wife: with a woman whose name he could not remember in the laundry room of the house where the party was being held.

7. What was not a bumper sticker on Billy's Cadillac El Dorado Coupe de Ville when he visited 1967?

Answer: Peace Now

The stickers advocating readers to "Support Your Police Department" and "Impeach Earl Warren" were gifts from his wife's father, a member of the John Birch Society.

8. What was the fate of the two scouts who abandoned Billy and Roland Weary in the creek bed?

Answer: They are shot in a German ambush

Billy and Weary heard the shots as they were being searched by their captors.

9. What did the dying colonel on the German side of the Luxemburg border want to be called by his men?

Answer: Wild Bob

The only person among the captured Americans who was a member of the colonel's regiment was Roland Weary who was too focused on the pain in his feet to notice his commander.

10. When Billy visited 1965, he was at his mother's side. What did she whisper tearfully to him?

Answer: "How did I get so old?"

She was at Pine Knoll, an old folks' home, and not expected to live much longer.

11. The narrator tells us "It was all they had, and they'd wrecked it". What was he referring to?

Answer: A black ghetto in upstate New York

Billy was in 1967 driving in his Cadillac. The narrator noted that the people in the black ghetto "hated it so much they had burned down a lot of it a month before." The ruins reminded Billy of Dresden after the fire-bombing.

12. According to the narrator, what is a lovely thing for a woman to be?

Answer: A nurse

He was speaking of Mary O'Hare, one of the two fictional characters the book is dedicated to.

13. What refrain does Vonnegut use repeatedly after mentioning death?

Answer: So it goes

As in: "While Billy was recuperating in a hospital in Vermont, his wife died accidentally of carbon-monoxide poisoning. So it goes." Billy learned this phrase from the Tralfamadorians.

14. Provide the missing word: "Billy is __________ in time, has no control over where he is going next, and the trips aren't necessarily fun."

Answer: spastic

While we are told that Billy has become "unstuck in time", this particular sentence goes on to explain that statement.

15. What color light did Billy sense when visiting his own death in the future?

Answer: Violet

After becoming unstuck in time, Billy first visited his own death, which the author describes as "violet light". From there he returned to the womb, which was "red light".

Source: Author oofahlandian

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