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Study Guide

Slaughterhouse-Five Chapter 4, Section 16

By Kurt Vonnegut

Chapter 4, Section 16

The prisoners are ushered past three huge piles of overcoats, which belonged to prisoners who have died.
The German guards want each of the prisoners without an overcoat to take one.
Billy takes a coat that is small and disgusting. He notices that his fellow soldiers all have soldiers' coats; he is the only one with a civilian's coat.
Billy and the other prisoners are marched toward the long, narrow sheds where they are being kept.