Edgar Derby is one of Billy Pilgrim's fellow prisoners of
war. He seems a decent person and one of the few who understand the effects of war on a
man although he is older and had to pull strings in order to even join the
army.
Howard W. Campbell is an American who lived in
Germany before the war and spread propaganda for the Nazis. In fact he writes a long
treatise about the inferiority of Americans to Germans. He tries to recruit some of the
prisoners by referencing their own dirty and sad state. Derby is the only one who
stands up to him and calls him out on his traitorous
ways.
After the fire bombing of Dresden, Edgar Derby is
executed for stealing a teapot. Vonnegut is pointing out the absurdity of war and human
behavior. Thousands of innocent people have been incinerated by American bombs, but
Derby is killed for a petty theft.
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