"There's Something Happening Here..."

“Robert Kennedy, whose summer home is eight miles from the home I live in all year round, was shot two nights ago. He died last night. So it goes.

            Martin Luther King was shot a month ago. He died too. So it goes.

            And every day my Government gives me a count of corpses created by military science in Vietnam. So it goes” (210). (Beginning of Ch. 10)

This quote contains many of the themes and motifs that are present throughout the novel. Once again at the beginning of Chapter 10 we see the story switch from Billy’s account of what’s happening back to an unknown narrator. This goes along with the theme of narrative vs. non-narrative. We also have the use of “so it goes” multiple times. But, the most prominent feature of this quote is the way the author chooses to tie past events with current ones. We are given descriptions of the assassinations of President Kennedy and Dr. King, as well as the mention of the Vietnam War, which lead us to believe that we are now in the year 1968. Vonnegut intentionally moved forward in time to this particular year to show that there is still unnecessary violence taking place in the world. Despite the horror and destruction that was witnessed during World War II we have failed to learn our lesson and continue to make the same mistakes. The casual tone seems to indicate that there is nothing that can be done and it’s just the way things are. Once again this is intentional to force the reader to consider if there really is nothing that can be done, or if we must somehow take action.  

Q: What did Vonnegut hope to accomplish by switching back and forth between a narrator and Billy?

-Jonathan Virdell