Chapter 2- So it goes.

"Now, when I myself hear that somebody is dead, I simply shrug and say what the Tralfamadorians say about dead people, which is 'So it goes.'" (27)

Used frequently in chapter two, the phrase "So it goes." refers to death. For example, when talking about the death of Billy Pilgrim's father, Vonnegut writes, "His father died in a hunting accident during the war. So it goes."(24). This minute little phrase is too meaniful and too often repeated to be ignored. I believe that Vonnegut uses this phrase to illustrate the fact that every one eventually dies. Additionally, he takes this nearly passive attitude towards death as a sort of defense mechanism. "So it goes" is a way of desensitizing himself toward the reality of death. Billy Pilgrim apparently adopted this phrase from the Tralfamadorians which shows that his state of mind was influenced by what he believes to be an alien abduction. In light of this phrase, Billy's "alien abuction" might just be a peculiar interpretation of events in his life. Additionally, most people fear death; therefore, Vonnegut uses the phrase to prepare himself for his own inevitable end. Later on in Slaughterhouse Five, "so it goes" may come to symbolize something greater than what it seems in this chapter, but for now all I can say is, "So it goes.".