Ch. 3 (entry #1)

One literary device that Vonnegut uses frequently in this chapter is indirect characterization. Vonnegut does a perfect job of telling us about a character without coming out and saying exactly what they are like.  Vonnegut uses objects and events to tell us about some of his characters.  One character Vonnegut describes using indirect characterization is corporal who captured Roland and Billy. Vonnegut says that the corporal "had been wounded four times-and patched up, and sent back to war." From that I inferred that this man was a tough and courageous soldier, who would die for his country. The corporal also had golden cavalry boots which "were almost all he owned in the world. They were his home." From that we can infer that the corporal was not very a wealthy man, or that he took so much pride in his boots that they were the only thing in the world he cared about.