The Role Of Death In So It Goes In Slaughterhouse-Five

“So It Goes” in Slaiughterhouse-five Death is so prominent in Slaughterhouse-five that it almost qualifies as a character. In fact, he is the only one that is ever present since the novel starts with death and it ends with death. Even the full title of the novel celebrates death as it is fully named Slaughterhouse-five, or the Children’s Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death. Since “so it goes” appears after a death of a person or idea, it is always present in every chapter and appears about one hundred and seventy nine times in comparison to Mother Night’s one (Schatt 100). In fact, the abundance of death desensitizes the characters present since the novel is only a “collage with mere silhouettes of human figures” (Schatt 123). Death also desensitizes

One of the most important ones would be the death of Howard W. Campbell, Jr. As the novel’s protagonist, Mother Night was in Campbell’s point of view. This showed a biased view of the war that Campbell glorified his part in. In Mother Night, Vonnegut set up a dramatic death for Campbell with flair, by signing off with “Goodbye, cruel world! Auf wiedersehen?” which translates to “until we meet again” (Mother Night 268), to follow the pattern of beginning, middle, and end. This is ironic because the reader does in fact meet him again in Slaughterhouse-five. However, this time, it is during the war when he was serving as a spy. Just like any of the characters that died in Slaughterhouse-five, Howard W. Campbell’s death was written as plainly “He would later hang himself while awaiting trial as a war criminal. So it goes.” (Slaughterhouse-five 128). It is ironic that the optimistic character of the two, who was full of hope, hanged himself but in Mother Night, this death was viewed as an escape to the hard reality so Campbell may find a better life in whatever afterlife he believes

Ronald Weary is a pudgy man who wanted to fit the hero of war stereotype, but did not. All throughout the war, he carries a false hope that he will soon return home as a glorified war veteran who would have plenty of stories to tell about to his new found fans and friends. He dreams of being a part of the Three Musketeers who would be credited for saving the poor and helpless Billy Pilgrim by protecting him from the enemy and nourishing him. However, the rest of the Musketeers had little respect for Weary so they abandon him with Billy Pilgrim. The reader would think that this would wake Ronald Weary from his delusions, yet it made them stronger. He is then inspired to be the singular hero that saved the day, but this possibility diminished when Billy and Ronald were caught by the Nazis and are transported to camps that were still functioning in Germany. Throughout their journey, they were robbed of their treasures and dignity when the enemy soldiers forced them into silly clothing and accessories like a size too small clogs for Ronald Weary. Ironically, this shoe would be the cause of death of our ambitious soldier since with the shoes on, he was mocked by the other side. This greatly hurt his ego which in turn made the pain worse when combined with the physical aspect. At the end, Weary earns some hero status through his death since just like Achilles, he was hit where it hurt the most: his