"And So It Goes" is a song written by Billy Joel in 1983, though it was not released until six years later. I think it means "have a shot" or "take a pill" (there has to be a reason Vonnegut references" Valley of the Dolls") or "take a puff" (the author does reference pot) or "pick your poison" (and lots of poisons are indeed mentioned) cause it really doesn't matter, when your time comes, it comes. I've never understood why the saying isn't known as "and so on," which is the phrase he most commonly uses in transitions from certain topics. I read "So it goes" as a sort of sigh of resignation. When people die I get the impression that he would like to epilogize for each of them, but he realises that it's rather irrelevant to the plot so he just says "so it goes" as if to say "that's a story for another time". In other words, the world continues to go on with or without us. So it goes. "So it goes" means life goes on.
"And so on" always seemed to be his saying to me, since it's a phrase he uses in basically every chapter of each of his books. The song is a about a doomed relationship or imminent break-up. She would say, "Oh, i burned the bread. Brings us into 'the zone'.
The Tralfamadorians say this when someone dies, and therefore so does Billy, but this isn't explained till further into the book, and the narrator isn't Billy, so perhaps it has another meaning. You can ignore it or live by it but you can't change it. Nancy from Merle168@insightbb.com, Ky And this is why my eyes are closed it's just as well for all I've seen and so it goes and so it goes and your the only one who knows. So, everyone, let's enjoy in our own way. it was explained by the tralfamadorians: humans aren't given a chance to choose our fate and free will, so we may as well just accept life for how it is. Love it so much. It also shows the desensitization of the characters and humans in general by implying that random death (even in unnecessary circumstances) is a casual part of life. for me it is what the aliens say, while looking down at the humans.... B: "Yeah, it sucks. I would say if you replace "it" with "life" the narrator says "So life goes" as in all life ends in death. As the author states it the book, it is in fact an anti war book and interpret the use of the satirical motif to represent how war has taken something such as death, which is so drastic and made it so meaningless.
"That's life". Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death is a science fiction-infused anti-war novel by Kurt Vonnegut, first published in 1969.It follows the life and experiences of Billy Pilgrim, from his early years to his time as an American soldier and chaplain's assistant during World War II, to the postwar years, with Billy occasionally traveling through time itself.
It appeared as the tenth and final track of his 1989 studio album Storm Front.The original 1983 demo was released on the 2005 box set My Lives.
"So it goes," in comparison to "and so on" is rarely ever used in any of his books. This expression is used by the narrator on the first page. One loves it too. In a way, that's life- there's nothing we can do, but I think there's a point that maybe we could do something and this defeatist attitude stinks, and that is what Vonnegut infers. So it goes. It's there to simulate the experience of a live storytelling and the idea of a narrator telling a sliver of a much larger story. It is said a lot of other times too and some are quite mundane. For me this has always meant a sarcastic comment for It can't be helped. Vonnegut's parents were German. It's used to cut off a tangent/subplot, sometimes even before getting into it.