Slaughterhouse-Five

by Kurt Vonnegut
Motifs and symbols
Motifs
Regarding the motifs, one of them is the death highlighted by the phrase So it goes. It
appears 104 times and is used heavily throughout the boo, al!ays follo!ing any dis"ussion or any
sort of mentioning of death. #s a memento mori, this phrase refle"ts a ind of "omfort in the
$ralfamadorian idea that although a person may be dead in a parti"ular moment, the human being is
alive in all the other moments of his life, !hi"h "oe%ist and "an be visited over and over through
time travel. #t the same time, though, the repetition of the phrase eeps a tally of the "umulative
for"e of death throughout the novel, thus pointing out the tragi" inevitability of death. Summari&ing
the main point of the boo, the phrase originates from 'illy (ilgrim and re"urs often. 'illy (ilgrim
learned the philosophy of life in the time he spent on $ralfamadore, a friendly planet inhabited by
toilet plunger shaped aliens. #rmed !ith the $ralfamadore deta"hment 'illy "an travel through
time and deal !ith his past traumas by using the e%pression So it goes.
#nother motif is the presen"e of the narrator as a "hara"ter. $he narrator tals from the first
person perspe"tive about the e%perien"e of !riting this novel, and he mentions lots of details about
his o!n life that mat"h )onnegut*s o!n biography. +e says ,$hat !as I. $hat !as me. $hat !as the
author of this boo., )onnegut frames his novel !ith "hapters in !hi"h he speas in his o!n voi"e
about his e%perien"e of !ar. $his de"ision indi"ates that the fi"tion has an intimate "onne"tion !ith
)onnegut-s life and "onvi"tions.
Symbols
)onnegut in"ludes symbolism into this anti.!ar boo about the struggles of humanity. $he
first being the bird that says poo.tee.!eet. $he /abbering bird symboli&es the la" of anything
intelligent to say about !ar. 'irdsong rings out alone in the silen"e after a massa"re, and (oo.tee.
!eet0 seems about as appropriate a thing to say as any, sin"e no !ords "an really des"ribe the
horror of the 1resden firebombing. $he bird sings outside of 'illy-s hospital !indo! and again in
Stavara"he #lina #driana
Rom2n3. 4ngle&3, 5r. II
#n III
the last line of the boo, asing a 6uestion for !hi"h !e have no ans!er, /ust as !e have no ans!er
for ho! su"h an atro"ity as the firebombing "ould happen.
#nother important symbol are the "olors blue and ivory. 'illy-s bare feet are very often
des"ribed as blue and ivory, !hi"h are "ool, "orpse lie hues. $his represents the fragility bet!een
life and death,bet!een !orldly and other!orldly e%perien"e.
Stavara"he #lina #driana
Rom2n3. 4ngle&3, 5r. II
#n III