Adapted from an in-class essay: 2011 Kurt Vonnegut, as a former prisoner of war during the bombing of Dresden in World War II (WWII), knows death. Vonnegut’s Billy Pilgrim, who is “unstuck in time” as a soldier during WWII, a husband at home, and a zoo display on an alien planet simultaneously, also knows death. Vonnegut, in his novel Slaughterhouse-Five, uses instances of death in Billy’s life to demonstrate that one need not be stirred by death; his view of death is passive, yet accepting in that death is inevitable. Vonnegut begins his novel with a familiar story from the Bible: God tells Lot and his wife to leave their city and not look back, but Lot’s wife looks and is turned to a pillar of salt. Vonnegut tells the story, then says “So it goes” (Vonnegut 27-28). Thus, Vonnegut introduces the scope of his novel with one of the earliest deaths in Christian history. Vonnegut comments on the wife’s human mistake, but does not show sympathy or emotion at her death. In another window of time, Vonnegut writes, “[Billy’s] wife died accidentally of carbon-monoxide poisoning. So it goes” (31). He does not make any other comment on this death, either. Even in a novel, a death is important. It makes the reader feel and mourn. Vonnegut, however, shows no emotion and merely states death as a fact, as another part of the story. He is not selectively passive. Vonnegut treats all deaths in his book the same way; he describes them, then writes “so it goes.” All deaths in the book are inevitable and equal, even in extreme measures. As he describes the Nazis, he mentions the German candles and soap “made from the fat of rendered Jews and Gypsies and fairies and communists, and other enemies of the state.” Vonnegut merely interjects his familiar phrase: “So it goes.” (122) Vonnegut later reveals, through a conversation with aliens, that a single alien destroys the entire universe with the push of a button. “So it goes” (149). Thus, he again widens the scope of his novel; he begins with individual deaths, one from hundreds of years ago and one from the present, then tells of the deaths of millions in the mid-1900s and the eventual destruction of the entire universe. Vonnegut, however, treats each radically different situation with the same passive, simple words. This comparison shows that he views each death as ultimately inevitable and of equal importance as the others, regardless of size, cause, or consequence. Vonnegut’s comparisons seem wild, but he explores interesting questions: Should humans accept death as part of nature, and not as something entirely sad? Do circumstances surrounding death make certain incidents worse than others? Is it human nature to mourn or is death devastating because society has constructed it to be so? Although these questions may not have definitive answers, Vonnegut forces his readers to confront a fact most choose to ignore: we all die in the end—it is merely a matter of time, place, and circumstance. I don’t believe Vonnegut, with his experience in war, felt nothing when experiencing the deaths of those around him. I do believe, however, that he had come to realize that death is not the definitive moment of someone’s life. Vonnegut died in 2007 (“Kurt Vonnegut Biography”), but his death does not define him. If he were to describe it, I believe he would say “so it goes.” "Kurt Vonnegut Biography — Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library." Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2013. Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse-five or The children's crusade: a duty-dance with death. New York: Dial Press Trade Paperbacks, 2009.
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