Slaughterhouse-Five Repetition

"So it goes." p.9

This phrase is repeated often throughout the story. It always follows the revelation of the death of someone of something. It is a universal phrase. At one point in the story, he talks about the death of a company or a person and follows it up with, "So it goes." Similarly he speaks of the death of a bug or something insignificant and follows it with, "So it goes." This apparent indifference reveals the effects the Tralfamadorians have had on Billy. Like the aliens, Billy no longer fears, dreads, or mourns death like other Earthlings. He knows that the person is only dead at that moment but alive at any other moment in time. His perception of time makes him unique but also crazy on Earth.