Summary Of Kurt Vonnegut's 'Slaughterhouse-Five'

“How nice – to feel nothing, and still get full credit for being alive” (Vonnegut 50). In Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut introduces the genuine danger war implements on the innocent minds of soldiers by introducing Billy Pilgrim as a prisoner and Dresden bombing survivor. Kurt Vonnegut’s anti-war novel appropriates around a science fiction theme where Billy Pilgrim becomes “unstuck” in time. This allows Billy to experience his life disorderly.
"Billy is spastic in time, has no control over where he is going next, and the trips aren 't necessarily fun. He is in a constant state of stage fright, he says, because he never knows what part of his life he is going to have to act in next." (23)
Throughout the novel, Billy expresses his ability

Since Billy Pilgrim is ultimately creating these irrational realities in life; the Tralfamadorians must alternately become a part of Billy Pilgrims subconscious thought process. The phrase “So it goes” becomes an acceptance of life and destiny – embracing the inevitable unpredictability life offers. It is a coping mechanism to express the endless amount of deaths Billy Pilgrim has been forced to witness. By repeating “So it goes” after each death, Billy Pilgrim is ultimately eliminating the impact of death by removing its attached culture. He does not feel sad anymore because life goes on; when his father dies, when his friends die, when one hundred thirty thousand innocent people die in Dresden, when his wife dies, and when Billy Pilgrim, himself, dies – It’s just “So it goes.” Billy can now face his own death without feeling any remorse or fear, even knowing the exact way he will die. This idea of life gives Billy Pilgrim the sense of control he’s lacked his entire “spastic”