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Billy Pilgrim's View On Death

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“Life goes on anyway if things should change” (“Another You (Another Way)”) is Billy Pilgrim’s view on life and death in the novel Slaughterhouse Five. Pilgrim does not acknowledge the death of people in his life. He thinks that the past, present, and future could not change and is predestined; therefore their death was bound to happen and his life should not be affected by this. Pilgrim uses the phrase “So it goes” to express this ideology of life should continue after death. “So it goes” is a leitmotif in Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five because shows both Pilgrim’s and the Tralfamadorians’ view on death; while interpreted in this light the author continues with the novel’s theme of acceptance of death as a part of life. Billy Pilgrim …show more content…

They have a different outlook on time, life, and death by believing in a fourth dimension. In this fourth dimension time is not real and life happens in moments rather than progressing forward. Therefore, when someone dies, they do not really die because they can go back to another moment in their life. Pilgrim seems to like this philosophy and develops the phrase “So it goes.” He does not want to live certain moments of his life, which is why he is intrigued by the Tralfamadorians. When these tragic moments, such as the death of his loved ones, happen, he wants to forget it and be in a different moment. This is why he uses the phrase “So it goes” because his life will continue and he can be in another moment instantaneously. He uses this throughout the novel and travels from moment to moment. He lives out his own death at point, but is fine in the next moment. This instant change comforts him at a time of loss; it is Pilgrim’s form of mourning. Although it is a non-traditional way, it helps him while he tries to suppress his emotions. The Tralfamadorians also believe in a predestined life. Billy comes to believe in this by continuously repeating that he cannot change his past present or future. When life is planned out, he feels as if there is nothing he can do but continue with it. But the life of others is something to be valued, therefore he should treasure the moments he had with them. Death is a natural

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