The embedded narratives of

Kilgore Trout and their relevance to

Slaughterhouse-five
● An embedded narrative (novel within a novel) is a specific type of metafiction, which are sometimes
called nested stories.
● Use your text to complete the analysis.
● You may collaborate with up to two other students (three to a group).
● “Literary functions” is any relevance each Trout “novel” has with Slaughterhouse-five as a whole,
and/or any further literary observations about the “novel” (see below).
● An example has been done for you.

The Big Board

Chapter 9
Plot summary:
The Big Board tells the story of two human beings who are kidnapped by extraterrestrials in order to be
exhibited in a zoo on the planet Zircon-212. In their habitat is a “big board” showing stock market quotations,
commodity prices, and news. They use it to manage $1 million their captors invested for them on Earth, to
build their wealth for their return home. The big board is fake, a prop like giving a gorilla in a zoo a tire to play
with, to entertain the zoo visitors. Their investments do well on paper, though.

Literary functions:
The Big Board fulfills at least three functions
in the context of Slaughterhouse-Five:

First, it juxtaposes the Earthling man and

woman kidnapped by the extraterrestrials
from Zircon-212 with Billy Pilgrim and
Montana Wildhack. The task of this man and
woman is to create wealth; the task of
Pilgrim and Wildhack, to create babies, thus
satirizing the two main drives of Earthling
adults. This intertextual duplication allows
Vonnegut to stress his theme of mutual
"contamination" of fantasy and reality.
Secondly, Trout's novel serves to present a world in which even the sole purpose that seems to exist in life
proves to be false. Thus, the same lack of meaning that can be detected in the life of this couple is extended to
Billy's existence, for he too will be kidnapped, caged and manipulated by the Tralfamadorians.

Third, is the excessive importance human beings attach to money; something particularly absurd considering
that the couple are deprived of their freedom, and will not see any actual return on their “investments.”

Maniacs in the Fourth Dimension

Chapter 5
Plot summary:
Maniacs in the Fourth Dimension is about people with mental diseases whose causes are in the fourth
dimension, and therefore couldn’t be treated by normal doctors who see only in three dimensions.
Literary functions:
First, this connects to the way Tralfamadorians see the world. Tralfamadorians see the world in four
dimensions, and are trying to help Billy see the world as they do. It could be assumed that the way humans
understand the world is a disease, and the Tralfamadorians don’t have that problem. Second, this connects to
PTSD from the war. It was something that wasn’t understood at the time, and did not have a clear cause, so
doctors couldn’t treat it. The trauma from the war is a problem only understood in the fourth dimension.

The Gutless Wonder

Chapter 8
Plot summary:
The Gutless Wonder is about a robot with halitosis who dropped fire bombs on people. They were
programmed without a conscience or the ability to understand what was happening on the ground. The robot
is essentially human, and is shunned from society because of his bad breath, but once it is cured he is
welcomed to the human race.
Literary functions:
First, this connects to the firebombing of Dresden. The robots drop fire bombs on people, similar to what
happened in Dresden. Slaughterhouse 5 even mentions how this book predicted the use of fire bombs, directly
foreshadowing the firebombing of Dresden. Second, this book comments on soldiers of war. The robots are
programmed to not feel feelings, and not think about the damage they’re causing to the people they’re
dropping the fire bombs on. Soldiers are programmed in war to not have humanity and not think about who
they’re killing. This book also shows how this loss of humanity is accepted by humans, whereas bad breath is
seen as unforgivable. Third, this book ties to motifs about artificial culture. Being a good person, or an actual
person, is not important, as seen by the robot being accepted into society,

The Gospel from Outer Space

Chapter 5
Plot summary:
The Gospel from Outer Space is about an alien, very much like Tralfamadorians, who visits Earth and learns
about Christianity. The alien learns that Christians can easily be cruel because the New Testament teaches that
you shouldn’t kill someone with connections (aka The Son of God). The alien rewrites the Bible so that Jesus
was actually crazy and had no connections, but when he is nailed to the cross God adopts Jesus as his son and
says that nobody can kill a bum with no connections.
Literary functions:
First, this parallels the plot in regards to Tralfamadorians, and creates the implication that Billy imagined the
Tralfamadorians based on this book. Additionally, it reflects Billy’s journey to share the Tralfamadorian
message. He sees what is wrong with humans' view on death, and seeks to preach the new message. The
rewritten Jesus is symbolic of Billy; a crazy person with no connections who is preaching a true message. Also,
it ties to themes of war and how humans are capable of killing each other as long as they aren’t considered
important. It ties to themes of religion as well, and how religion makes people hypocritical.

“Jesus and the Time Machine”

Chapter 9
Plot summary:
This book is about a time traveler who went back in time to see Jesus. He saw Jesus once when he was a child
learning carpentry, and the Roman soldiers gave them an order to build a cross, and they did happily. The time
traveler also visited when Jesus was on the cross, and saw that he really died. He also saw that Jesus was only
5’ 3” and a half.
Literary functions:
This book uses irony, a postmodern characteristic, in that Jesus builds a cross and he will eventually die on a
cross. It also ties very closely to the theme of religion, because it challenges religious beliefs. It even says that
Jesus did die on the cross, which is a heavily debated question. Finally, it shows the superficial value humans
place on certain things through focusing on the fact that Jesus was only 5’ 3” and a half. This book helps reflect
the theme in Slaughterhouse Five that humans place value on the wrong things, such as morals versus wealth.