Quote 1
The flaw in the Christ stories, said the visitor from outer space, was that Christ, who didn't look like much, was actually the Son of the Most Powerful Being in the Universe. Readers understood that, so, when they came to the crucifixion, they naturally thought, and Rosewater read out loud again:
Oh boy—they sure picked the wrong guy to lynch that time!
And that thought had a brother: "There are right people to lynch." Who? People not well connected. So it goes. (5.31.2-3)
Kilgore Trout often criticizes Christian theology for not doing enough to prevent human suffering. And despite having been a chaplain's assistant, Billy does not turn to Christ for comfort. What general comments or criticism might Slaughterhouse-Five be making about the Christian faith? What does Vonnegut propose in its place?
Quote 2
"Did that really happen?" said Maggie White. She was a dull person, but a sensational invitation to make babies...
"Of course it happened," Trout told her. "If I wrote something that hadn't really happened, and I tried to sell it, I could go to jail. That's fraud." (8.13.1-2)
Kilgore Trout is being facetious here by claiming that novelists are expected to write only the truth. At the same time, his novels, even if they are science fiction, tackle real and important subjects, such as greed, faith, and morality. With Slaughterhouse-Five, it seems to us that Vonnegut is claiming that many of the ideas expressed in fiction may not be literal or real, but they have a higher philosophical truth.