Slaughterhouse-Five: Chapters 3–4

by Kurt Vonnegut
Loosely based on the author, the narrator sets out to write a book about his experiences during World War II, but ends up telling about Billy Pilgrim, a soldier who gets "unstuck in time" and travels throughout moments of his life both on Earth and the planet Tralfamadore.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapters 3–4, Chapters 5–6, Chapters 7–10
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. swaddle
    wrap very tightly in cloth, as a baby
    Next to the golden boots were a pair of feet which were swaddled in rags.
    Swaddling clothes are for infants. The feet which were swaddled in rags belonged to a fifteen-year-old boy. By emphasizing the youth of the soldiers, the narrator/Vonnegut is keeping his promise to Mary O'Hare to not glamorize war but instead to make it seem more horrible because it's taking the lives of babies (possible pun: Billy was part of an infantry regiment).
  2. sheathe
    enclose with a protective covering
    A bullet-proof Bible is a Bible small enough to be slipped into a soldier’s breast pocket, over his heart. It is sheathed in steel.
  3. tentatively
    in a hesitant manner
    “Doctor—” said the patient tentatively.
    “Hm?” he said.
    “You’re so quiet.”
  4. correspondent
    a journalist who supplies stories for news media
    There was a photographer present, a German war correspondent with a Leica.
  5. desolation
    a bleak atmosphere
    Billy drove through a scene of even greater desolation. It looked like Dresden after it was fire-bombed — like the surface of the moon.
  6. vertigo
    a reeling sensation; a feeling that you are about to fall
    He had a high fever and vertigo. As the railroad yard dipped and swooped around the colonel, he tried to hold himself steady by staring into Billy’s eyes.
  7. balderdash
    trivial nonsense
    He made the inside of poor Billy’s skull echo with balderdash.
  8. imperative
    requiring attention or action
    It became imperative that he take hold of the bottom rung of the sinuous ladder, which he did.
  9. sinuous
    curved or curving in and out
    It became imperative that he take hold of the bottom rung of the sinuous ladder, which he did.
  10. acrimonious
    marked by strong resentment or cynicism
    And now there was an acrimonious madrigal, with parts sung in all quarters of the car.
    Madrigals usually have lyrics that connect to peace, freedom, nature, or love. Those subjects are unlikely to come up in a train crowded with prisoners of war. Describing the many-voiced complaints as an "acrimonious madrigal" humorously emphasizes how war can mess with the harmony of life; it also makes the readers pity Billy more because he'd unintentionally became the target of the others' acrimony.
  11. madrigal
    an unaccompanied partsong for several voices
    And now there was an acrimonious madrigal, with parts sung in all quarters of the car.
  12. gangrene
    the localized death of living cells
    Roland Weary died — of gangrene that had started in his mangled feet.
Created on Tue Mar 12 14:23:10 EDT 2013 (updated Fri Jul 25 12:02:27 EDT 2025)

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