So it goes

Soldiers are trained to have the mentality "kill or be killed", so that they don't hesitate to kill another soldier. During war soldiers see, so much death around them which makes it hard to understand how they are able to keep fighting, and not just give up. Throughout Slaughterhouse 5 "so it goes" is repeated after every death reflecting the lack of care or interest the author and character has about death. Does having the "so it goes" mentality help soldiers get through war, and help Billy Pilgrim get through all the death that he has witnessed because it leaves them untouched by the feeling of loss?

Optimism or Insanity?

In Chapter 4, the reader is exposed to more Tralfamadorians and more examples of the way they view time. Billy continues to speak so casually about time, as if it isn't anything specific, "It simply is" as the Tralfamadorians say on page 86. Billy becomes "slightly unstuck in time, and saw the late movie backwards, then forwards again" (74-75). The movie backwards starts with destruction and moves in reverse, so people are cleaning up their messes instead of making them. By the end of the movie (which is really the beginning), everything is back in its place and all the damage has been undone.

Billy is able to remain so casual and optimistic because he sees things so differently from other people. If all Earthlings saw everything as Billy did, there would be no need for war. Just a simple shift in time can show things in a much more positive light, as was shown with the reverse movie. What do you think would happen today if we had the ability to see time as the Tralfamadorians did? Would it solve conflicts or just create more?

Death in Slaughterhouse Five

Throughout Slaughterhouse-Five, both the narrator and Billy Pilgrim treat death as a tragic, yet inevitable, aspect of human life. The narrator imparts many deaths to the reader, but only in an indifferent tone. The reader, through the narrator's words, sees death as common and uninteresting. The narrator continually uses the phrase, "So it goes.  after telling the reader of a death. Billy Pilgrim has the same attitude toward death, even before he meets the Tralfamadorians and becomes accustomed to their philosophies on life and death. Billy expects and accepts that he will die. He even welcomes death at times. At one point when Billy is in the war with Roland Weary and the rest of the Three Musketeers, a marksman fires at the group while they are walking down a road. The soldier boys run for cover. Billy, however, remains standing on the road, allowing the shooter a second chance. 


Does Billy believe that death is inevitable or does he want to be killed?

4-Dimensional Reading

In Chapter 2, it became apparent that this book would not be easy to follow given that the narrator described Billy Pilgrim interacting with aliens and time traveling in increments of years at a time. Billy says that the alien creatures he supposedly met are called Tralfamadorians, and they are "friendly and they can see in four dimensions. They pitied Earthlings for being able to see only three. They had so many wonderful things to teach Earthlings, especially about time" (Vonnegut 26).

The book seems to portray time as simply a fourth dimension instead of describing events as if they occur in chronological order. Since Billy knew of the Tralfamadorians' desire to teach Earthlings about time, perhaps the book he wrote (Sam) was an attempt at educating humans as to what time really is. 

There could also be a deeper meaning to Earthlings being able to only see three dimensions. Since this was described as an anti-war book in Chapter 1, the lack of a fourth dimension could explain why war exists. Humans are foolish, selfish, and cruel. This could all be as a result of seeing time so narrowly, and the Tralfamadorians sought to teach Earthlings to see time as a fourth dimension and therefore eliminate some undesirable traits that accompany humanity. If this is what Vonnegut meant, does he really believe in these Tralfamadorians and what they say about time?

In both chapter 2 and chapter 3 Billy Pilgrim has found himself in bad situations when in World War 2. Yet, he still laughs and smiles when in these situations. He does not seem to take what's going on seriously or he just does not care. He seems to be the kind of person that stuff just happens to, and ends up in situations that leave us wondering how he was able to get there. There have been two instances in this book that even though were bad, he laughed and smiled anyway.

" ....Weary kicked him in the ribs, rolled him over on his side. Billy tired to form himself into a ball. You shouldn't even be in the Army , said Weary. Billy was involuntarily making convulsive sounds that were a lot like laughter" (pg.51).
"Bobbing up-and-down, up-and-down, Billy beamed lovingly at a bright lavender farmhouse that had been spattered with machine-gun bullets" (pg.65)

Billy upon being beat up and being captured by the German Army is still able to find humor while everyone else is complaining and crying over wounds. Does this enable him to be a better survivor in the war if he is always looking at the good in the situation, or is he delusional and does not understand the seriousness/danger of the situation at hand?

Example Posts - Meets and Exceeds

The following are two posts that may serve as models for your own. These posts use The Grapes of Wrath as the considered text, but the requirements are the same. The first is an example of a post that MEETS the standard; the second is an example that EXCEEDS the standard.

Meets:

It became apparent in chapter 5 that the narrative of the Joad family is only one perspective of the struggles people faced in the 1930s. The use of racial slurs and culturally insensitive language reminds us that the Joads, although they are a poor family lacking many basic resources, they do have the privilege of being white. The use of the word "nigger" and the highly insensitive way of speaking about Native Americans remind us that whiteness was a privilege that could elevate the status of even the most desperate farmer.

I wonder how this theme of race and culture will continue to develop over the course of the novel. What will the presence of race and racism continue to teach us about the social fabric of the U.S. in the '30s?

Exceeds:

The description of the land in Chapter 5 tells us a lot about the tensions arising out of the industrialization of farming. The physical connection to the land is broken, and this seems to lead to a bigger gap that transcends the physical.

In chapter 5, we learn that the tractor driver "could not see the land as it was, he could not smell the land as it smelled; his feet did not stamp the clods or feel the warmth and power of the earth...Men ate what they had not raised, had no connection with the bread. The land bore under iron, and under iron gradually died; for it was not loved or hated, it had no prayers or curses" (35, 36).

Humans are being replaced by machines, and these machines will never love and appreciate the land (and what the land provides) as much as the humans who farmed it with their own hands. I am curious to see how this theme continues to play out in the novel - will the divide between the human and the machine continue to grow, and will it cause the farmers' struggle to become increasingly bitter and devastating?

Notes:

• Please consider your grammar and spelling. These posts should be thoughtful and well-crafted. 
• As you can see, the posts need not be long. A few sentences, or a small paragraph or two is sufficient. Remember - quality over quantity! 
• Please title your post purposefully - your title should help give a heads-up about the content of your post.