1. Explore the use of "So it goes." Is it to be viewed as resignation to the horrors of death? Is it Billy's response? Vonnegut's? Yours?
             "So it goes" is Billy Pilgrim's theory regarding death. He is simply saying that death is no big deal. Since he saw so much death in World War II, and witnessed a bombing two times as worse as Hiroshima, he deals with death much differently than others. Because of everything he has gone through, Billy has become numb to death. It has become a regular situation in his life. Billy first uses this saying on page 2, when he is talking about the death of Gerhard Muller's mother. Because Billy often travels to and from Tralfamadore, he has become accustomed to using their theories about life. "When a Tralfamadorian sees a corpse, all he thinks is that the dead person is in a bad condition in that particular moment, but that the same person is just fine in plenty of other moments. 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). Billy thinks that there is no complete death, and it has no finality. Humans are often outraged at his theory when they hear Billy talking about it. They cannot comprehend how someone can be so emotionless about death. "The most important thing that I learned on Tralfamadore was that when a person dies he only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past, so it is very silly for people to cry at his funeral. All moments, past, present, and future, always have existed, always will exist" (26-27). Billy uses this as a defense mechanism for life. This shows that Billy will always live in a dream world. Billy's response is Vonnegut's response in Slaughterhouse-Five. But, Vonnegut's memories were too painful for him, so he tells his life through Billy Pilgrim. It is
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