1. What actually happened in Dresden? To what use does Vonnegut put these events in his story? What views of America can we see in the novel? Is Vonnegut endorsing one or more of them? 2. The book begins "All this happened, more or less." Why does the novel begin with a metanarrative chapter describing the author’s life and the process of writing the novel, instead of beginning "Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time"?
3. Why does Vonnegut introduce the Tralfamadorians? That is, why did he make his "famous Dresden book" into science fiction? Does the character of Kilgore Trout help us understand this?
4. Why is the novel so fragmented? How does this structure contribute to the meaning of the story?
5. What is the point of the refrain "so it goes"? Why is it repeated so often through the novel?
6. What role does the act of reading play in the novel?

Read the excerpt from the war of the worlds, in which the crowd begins to disperse just before the first martian exits the cylinder.when i returned to the common the sun was setting. scattered groups were hurrying from the direction of woking, and one or two persons were returning. the crowd about the pit had increased, and stood out black against the lemon yellow of the sky—a couple of hundred people, perhaps. there were raised voices, and some sort of struggle appeared to be going on about the pit. strange imaginings passed through my mind. as i drew nearer i heard stent's voice: "keep back! keep back! "a boy came running towards me."it's a-movin'," he said to me as he passed; 'a-screwin' and a-screwin' out. i don't like it. i'm a-goin' 'ome, i am."what options accurately depict the impact of the boy's words on pacing within the excerpt? (select all that apply.)the war of the worldsthe setting is in england, so the boy's words provide the reader with the dialect of the area. even though that slows down the plot, the boy's words contain important information.the plot's forward movement is slow at the beginning of the excerpt because there is little action. the boy's words increase the tension and counteract that lag.the narrator is not close enough to see clearly into the pit, so the boy's words provide the narrator with the information he needs, which moves the plot forward.the boy's words serve to speed up the pacing of the plot because, as he is talking to the narrator, he is running past him to get away.the narrator is not close enough to see clearly into the pit, so the boy's words provide the narrator with the information he needs, which moves the plot forward.wrong? the boy's words serve to speed up the pacing of the plot because, as he is talking to the narrator, he is running past him to get away.