Characters Discussed
Billy Pilgrim
Billy Pilgrim, a conservative, middle-aged optometrist living in upstate Ilium, New York. Born in 1922, Pilgrim leads a very bland life, except for the facts that at the end of World War II he came “unstuck in time” and began to jump back and forth among past, present, and future, and that in 1967 he was captured by a flying saucer from the planet Tralfamadore. The novel’s jerky structure mirrors his interplanetary and time travel. Pilgrim is thus a schizophrenic character: An apathetic, almost autistic widower in the present, he is also a crackpot visionary who claims to have visited another planet and to speak as a prophet. The cause of Pilgrim’s schizoid behavior, as the author makes clear, is the horror he witnessed in Dresden as a prisoner of war when that beautiful old German city was systematically incinerated by American bombers.
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., the author of the novel and a character in it, living on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The first and last chapters of the novel form a frame around the narrative proper. In them, Vonnegut describes his trip with his wartime buddy, Bernard V. O’Hare, back to Dresden, Germany, where they were imprisoned during World War II, as well as current events (for example, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy). The persona of this narrator is naïve, idealistic, and fixated on World War II, especially on the fire-bombing of Dresden, a city of no apparent military significance. As he tells readers, Vonnegut himself was one of the few survivors of the destruction of Dresden, when he and other prisoners of war—including Pilgrim in the novel itself—were entombed in a slaughterhouse below the city and thus survived the holocaust above. Vonnegut surfaces several other times in the narrative, so history, fiction, author, and fictional characters intermingle freely.
Montana Wildhack
Montana Wildhack, a voluptuous film star who is captured and put in a zoo on Tralfamadore along with Billy Pilgrim, and who becomes his lover and bears his child while they are living in captivity there.
Valencia Merble Pilgrim
Valencia Merble Pilgrim, Pilgrim’s wife, a rich, overweight woman who is later killed rushing to his aid after a plane crash in which he is the only survivor.
Howard W. Campbell, Jr.
Howard W. Campbell, Jr., an American collaborator working for the Nazis who tries to convince Pilgrim and his fellow prisoners to defect to the German side.
Edgar Derby
Edgar Derby, an older, idealistic American soldier and former high-school teacher who stands up to Campbell but then is executed at the end of the war for the trivial act of stealing a teapot.
Roland Weary
Roland Weary, a pathetic and tiresome comrade of Pilgrim who dies in the boxcar taking the prisoners to Dresden.
Paul Lazzaro
Paul Lazzaro, a mean and ugly member of the band of prisoners being shipped to Dresden who vows to kill Pilgrim after the war in revenge for the death of Weary. He eventually fulfills his threat, in 1976.
Kilgore Trout
Kilgore Trout, a science-fiction writer living in Ilium.
Themes and Characters
Slaughterhouse-Five is a novel that delves into the follies of humanity, following Billy Pilgrim as he travels through time and space. A survivor of the Dresden firebombing, Billy marries an optometrist's daughter, has two children, and is abducted on the night of his daughter's wedding. His captors are green extraterrestrials who place him in a zoo and pair him with a film star named Montana Wildhack. The Tralfamadorians believe that Earthlings are the only beings in the universe who think free will exists. Consequently, despite Billy adopting their views on time and experiencing past, present, and future events, he must accept that he has no control over his actions or destiny. His motto, "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," emphasizes the importance of staying calm in the face of inevitable fate.
Billy's time travel is erratic, and he has no control over his destinations,
which are often unpleasant.
The mass destruction of Dresden by Allied forces serves as Vonnegut's metaphor
for life's absurdity. A central theme is how technology has amplified
humanity's capacity for cruelty. Vonnegut is horrified by the idea that a
bombing raid could annihilate a centuries-old civilization and kill 135,000
people in under two hours. On a deeper level, the novel examines the moral void
in contemporary human life. Vonnegut's outrage is intensified by the lack of
public attention given to the Dresden bombing. He subtitles his book "The
Children's Crusade," comparing Billy and his fellow soldiers to the 20,000
children who left France in the summer of 1212, intending to peacefully reclaim
the Holy Land for Christianity. Most of these children perished or were
enslaved; none reached their goal.
At the core of the novel is the debate between free will and determinism. The Tralfamadorians teach Billy that events like death are just moments in the continuum of time, and focusing on any single moment misses the broader picture. The novel suggests that moments of peace exist regardless of one's ability to create them or control time's flow. For Billy, life is not futile—it may be senseless, but it still holds its pleasures. If the novel conveys any message beyond condemning war, it is that people need to find peace within themselves by learning how to respond to each moment.
The novel's narrator, who is likely Vonnegut himself, claims that there are no characters or dramatic confrontations because "most of the people in it are so sick and so much the listless playthings of enormous forces." In other words, the narrator believes that personalities are overwhelmed by larger forces like war. However, the writer-narrator evolves into a character, with each figure in the novel embodying an intriguing aspect of his personality. His individuality persists as long as his imagination stays vibrant.
Character Analysis
Billy Pilgrim’s Father
Billy Pilgrim’s father, whose full name is not disclosed, works as a barber in
Ilium, New York. He loses his life in a hunting accident while Billy is
undergoing military training in South Carolina. Billy attends his funeral just
before being deployed overseas.
Billy Pilgrim’s Mother
Billy’s mother, whose name is not provided, lives into old age. In 1965, Billy
visits her at a rest home.
Wild Bob
Wild Bob is an American POW who dies on the way to Dresden. Before his death,
he delivers a speech to imaginary troops, urging them to continue fighting the
Germans and inviting them to visit him in the U.S. after the war. His delusions
about his troops and the glory of combat highlight the absurdity of war and the
futility of trying to control the uncontrollable.
Howard W. Campbell, Jr.
An American who defects to the Nazis and works for the German Ministry of
Propaganda, Campbell visits the American prisoners in Dresden, attempting to
persuade them to abandon the Allies. He is also the protagonist in Vonnegut’s
earlier novel, Mother Night.
Colonel
See Wild Bob
Edgar Derby
Derby, a high school teacher from Indianapolis, becomes the unofficial leader
of the American POWs in Dresden. He is fundamentally decent and naturally
authoritative, showing kindness to Billy Pilgrim. After the Dresden
firebombing, he is caught stealing a teapot and is executed by the Germans for
looting—a senseless death that underscores the absurdity and tragedy of
war.
English Colonel
See Head Englishman
Head Englishman
The head of the English POWs is a colonel. He is amicable but slightly
patronizing towards the Americans, who lack the English prisoners’ commitment
to staying disciplined, organized, and cheerful during captivity.
Paul Lazzaro
Lazzaro is an American POW in Dresden who befriends Roland Weary and vows to
avenge Weary’s death, which Weary attributes to Billy. Lazzaro survives the war
and later hires an assassin to kill Billy in 1976.
Lionel Merble
Lionel Merble is Billy Pilgrim’s father-in-law and helps establish Billy in a
prosperous optometry practice. He dies in a plane crash while traveling with
Billy to an optometrist’s convention; Billy and the copilot are the sole
survivors. Though not an inherently bad person, Lionel Merble can be seen as a
symbol of the indifference and superficial materialism of postwar America.
Bernard V. O’Hare
Bernard is Vonnegut’s "old war buddy" who witnessed the Dresden firebombing
alongside him. A real-life figure, Bernard accompanied Vonnegut on a return
trip to Dresden in the 1960s and appears at the beginning of the novel.
Mary O’Hare
Mary O’Hare, Bernard’s wife, is another real-life person featured in the novel.
She objects to Vonnegut’s writing about Dresden, fearing he might romanticize
war. Vonnegut promises to subtitle his book "The Children’s Crusade."
Barbara Pilgrim
Barbara is Billy Pilgrim’s daughter. On the night of her wedding, Billy is
abducted by the Tralfamadorians. Following her mother’s death, Barbara takes on
a parental role for the increasingly distant Billy. She finds herself both
frustrated and embarrassed by Billy’s tales about the Tralfamadorians.
Billy Pilgrim
In Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut writes, “There are almost no
characters in this story … because most of the people in it are so sick and so
much the listless playthings of enormous forces.” This description fits Billy
perfectly. From his early memories of being thrown into the deep end of a pool
to learn swimming or being reluctantly taken on a family trip to the Grand
Canyon, Billy has always been subject to "enormous forces." As a soldier
captured by the Germans after the Battle of the Bulge, Billy is woefully
unprepared for the realities of war. He responds to the horrific events he
witnesses, including the firebombing of Dresden, with varying degrees of
disassociation and withdrawal. During his time as a prisoner, he becomes
"unstuck in time," experiencing random travels to the past and future. This
time travel serves as both a literal science fiction element and a metaphor for
the alienation and dislocation Billy, and modern humanity, feel in the face of
overwhelming and senseless violence.
Later, Billy is abducted by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore. The Tralfamadorians’ philosophy rejects the concept of free will, asserting that events cannot be altered by individual actions. This belief underscores the theme that Billy, and everyone else, are subject to forces beyond their control. In fact, Billy’s only active attempt in the entire novel is to publicize his alien abduction. It is fitting that Billy's closest relationship is not with his family but with Kilgore Trout, a science fiction writer whose novels reveal the illusion of logic and control.
After the war, Billy becomes an optometrist, marries, and has two children. Despite leading a seemingly ordinary life, he continues to experience time travel, which, like everything else, he cannot control. His interactions with the Tralfamadorians help him achieve a peaceful outlook on life. Ultimately, Billy accepts that he cannot change events and dedicates his life to teaching the Tralfamadorian philosophy to others on Earth.
Robert Pilgrim
Robert is Billy Pilgrim’s son. After struggling significantly in high school,
Robert joined the military, became a Green Beret, fought in Vietnam, and
eventually "became a fine young man."
Valencia Merble Pilgrim
Valencia is Billy Pilgrim’s wife. Despite being wealthy, she is physically
unattractive. She is deeply in love with Billy, but Billy does not truly
reciprocate her feelings, viewing her as "one of the symptoms of his disease."
After Billy survives a plane crash and is hospitalized, Valencia dies in a car
accident while rushing to see him—a tragic casualty of a senseless and uncaring
universe.
Eliot Rosewater
Eliot Rosewater is an affable eccentric who shares a hospital room with Billy
Pilgrim following Billy’s mental breakdown. Both men find life meaningless,
partly due to their wartime experiences. Rosewater introduces Billy to science
fiction, particularly the works of Kilgore Trout. He is also the main character
in Vonnegut’s earlier novel, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater.
Bertrand Copeland Rumfoord
A Harvard professor and the official Historian of the U.S. Air Force, Rumfoord
shares a hospital room with Billy Pilgrim after Billy’s plane crash. He is a
fervent patriot and a vocal supporter of the Allied firebombing of Dresden.
Similar to Roland Weary, Rumfoord embodies the misguided belief in the romance
of war and humanity’s ability to control chaos.
Tralfamadorians
The Tralfamadorians are an alien race that abducts Billy Pilgrim. Though they
are not depicted as individuals, they offer a philosophy of time and free will
that forms the foundation of the novel.
Kilgore Trout
Kilgore Trout is a science fiction writer and Billy Pilgrim’s favorite author.
He lives in Ulium and makes a living by delivering newspapers. Billy meets and
befriends Trout for the first time in 1964. Trout represents another method of
coping with the absurdity and tragedy of human existence. Some critics view him
as a projection of Vonnegut’s own concerns about being pigeonholed as a science
fiction writer. Both Trout and his novels appear in other works by
Vonnegut.
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
One of the unique aspects of Slaughterhouse-Five is that its author,
Kurt Vonnegut, appears as a character in his own novel. He is present
throughout the first and last chapters, where he discusses his struggles in
writing the book and his return visit to Dresden, twenty years after being
imprisoned there.
Roland Weary
Weary is one of the three soldiers captured alongside Billy Pilgrim after the
Battle of the Bulge. A sadistic bully, he detests Billy and has a penchant for
collecting torture devices. He fantasizes about a strong camaraderie with the
two scouts who are lost with him and Billy, but eventually, the scouts abandon
both Weary and Billy. Weary dies of gangrene on the train to Dresden, blaming
Billy for his death and urging other soldiers to avenge him. His violent nature
and delusional belief in the romanticism of war symbolize the militarism and
hatred that Vonnegut criticizes in the novel.
Montana Wildhack
Montana, a twenty-year-old American film star, is abducted by the
Tralfamadorians to become a companion for Billy Pilgrim during his
imprisonment. While in captivity, she and Billy have a child together.
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