A Grand Ole Epithet

After reading this nice brief chapter, I still found so much for the lack of length in this chapter. One thing I found was a repeated phrase to refer to Edgar Derby. While Billy was unconscious he traveled back to a time in the slaughterhouse when "he and poor old Edgar Derby were pushing an empty two-wheeled cart down a dirt lane between empty pens for animals" (157). In this quote I find an epithet describing Edgar as "poor old Edgar Derby." This phrase emphasizes that Edgar is a strong, honorable, humble, innocent old man man who is doomed to die for a small crime. Vonnegut uses this device to remind us of his characterization and to help provide a clear image of a "poor old Edgar Derby."