Group work on Slaughterhouse Five

Break up into small groups. Delegate one or more members of your group to prepare a summary of your group's discussion. (Note: If you were not in class for this group exercise, please complete it as a written exercise and turn it in as soon as you can.)

Discuss your answers to the following questions.

(If I have not presented on Pythagoras and Nietzsche's Doctrine of the Eternal Recurrence of the Same, make sure I do so now. If you were not in class, make sure to get the notes.)

1. What has Vonnegut seen? What is the experienced truth here? What is Slaughterhouse Five about?

2. Who is heroic here? Why?

3. Discuss the Doctrine of the Eternal Recurrence of the Same. According to the members of your group, what effect would believing this have on a person? Does Billy Pilgrim believe it?

M. Kagan, for PHL 403, Heroism and the Human Spirit.

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