Blog Report Number One - Madison Boynton

The context can be messy, and at times confusing to understand but this is a story about a non-heroic man named Billy Pilgrim who has become “unstuck in time”. He time travels back and forth, visiting his birth, his death, and all the moments in between repeatedly and out of order. Every good and bad thing Billy accepts or doesn’t is shown through the words “so it goes”. In Slaughterhouse Five the idea of accepting death is seen over and over again, having both its perks and downfalls in Billy Pilgrims life.  

“So it goes” follows every death in the story whether they are natural, accidental, or intentional and whether they occur on a massive scale or in a very personal one. When Vonnegut mentions that Billy’s father was killed in a hunting accident, it warrants no more attention than a random pole that Billy saw hanged while he was in Dresden. The death of 135,000 Dresden citizens calls for no more consideration than the death of a single hobo with whom Billy shares a train car ride as they and other prisoners of war ride to a prison camp.

Billy’s acceptance to death carries over with his whole demeanor that he portrays throughout this novel. He goes through life as more of a spectator than a participant. Billy’s view on acceptance comes from the comfort in the Tralfamadorian idea that although a person may be dead in this moment, they are alive in other moments of his life, which can exist again through time travel. Having this idea on acceptance allows Billy to accept everything that gets handed to him in his life, making it easy to forgive anyone for anything.

Billy’s perception on death does come with its downfalls. There is a point in the story where Billy is driving through a black ghetto and ignores all the suffering he sees. He acts as if he is just passing by and that none of the horrible things are happening. This can cause other problems in Billy’s life where he ignores what should be important and significant events in his life by viewing them as he is just passing through. He seems to be a guy who walks with his head down, instead of standing tall and seeing everything that’s happening around him in full view.

On this idea of acceptance that is shown on numerous occasions throughout the book, there is one part that sticks out to me in particular. Slaughterhouse Five being the book it is starts off by stating everything that is going to happen in the book in the very first chapter. The rest of the pages in the book fills in the missing information in greater detail. Anyways, in the first chapter is states how the climax of the story was going to be the death of Edgar Derby. As the book continued Edgar Derby played an important role in Billy’s life and then we experienced his death. On page 214 if explains his death, and it is explained in three short sentences, ending in “and so it goes”. There was no spectacular event that led up to his death, and for it being the climax of the book, his death happened a page before the story ended. This goes to show how someone so significant in Billy’s life, was just a moment passing through and now that he is dead, that is all it is; death.

To me, the idea of this entire concept really shows Billy’s ideas and beliefs and the way he accepts death. I do believe that Vonnegut makes a large emphasis on the values of forgiveness and peace that comes with this idea of Billy’s acceptance to death that is hidden behind his words every time someone dies. So it goes.