Question

what is the connotative meaning of this line from kurt vonnegut's "report on the barn house effect" ? general barker about the house like a woman preparing thanksgiving dinner for twenty

Answer 1

The narrator pokes fun at the general’s frantic behavior. The sentence lends a light-hearted tone to the story and also highlights a sarcastic and ironic tone, making the general’s actions appear senseless, hysterical, and frivolous—adjectives typically not used to describe a general.

Answer 2

I believe that the connotative meaning is that General Barker was in a hurry to get everything ready for the experiment.
He resembled a woman who has to prepare enough food for twenty people and doesn't have a lot of time to do it. Similarly, General Barker wanted to prepare everything for the experiment before the professor came to his house. He didn't doubt his abilities - quite the opposite, he was quite intrigued to see them.