So It Goes

The Boston Globe has titled Slaughterhouse-Five “Poignant and hilarious, threaded with compassion.” At first glance I wondered how a book about war could end up being “hilarious.” Then I realized: A hilarious book about a war was only if the first irony of those many more to come within its pages. Coming close to the end of the novel, many themes have come up, and more than once they were in midst of ironies. Chapter 9 is no exception, for it is full of both contradictory and hilarious scenes. To point out an example, one can go back to the scene at the end of the bombing in Dresden were Americans are reprehended for the bad conditions of their horses. The couple that appear so furiously in defense of an animal were described as follows: “They were doctors, both obstetricians. They had been delivering babies until the hospitals were all burned down… this couple, so involved with babies, had never reproduced themselves, though they could have. This was an interesting comment on the whole idea of reproduction (Slaughterhouse-Five, p. 196).” Vonnegut not only implies irony in a humorous attempt when writing this, he even points it out at the end and calls it “interesting.” And why would this scene be important if we were to discard the irony and humor it contains? He answer would be something like: No, it’s not important without such concepts. Based on the previous scene and many others included in the book, one can conclude the importance of humor for the story: making a novel about war so enjoyable and allowing the reader to focus into different topics without being prevented towards a bias concept of a war.

The first example was very basic, to the point that the author even points it out for us to grasp its humor, but not all other ironies are so. Again in chapter 9, one of the greatest ironies in the novel appears: the death of Billy’s wife. The whole scene was explained as follows: “Valencia, having heard about the crash, was riding to Ilium to the hospital… Valencia adored Billy… she put her car in gear and crossed the median divider, leaving her exhaust system behind… A doctor and a nurse ran out to find out what the trouble was. Poor Valencia was unconscious, overcome by carbon monoxide. She was heavenly azure. One hour later she was dead. So it goes. (Slaughterhouse-Five, p.182-30.” This was, to my view, the greatest irony of all. Billy’s wife, who he didn’t love, heard about his crash. Then she desperately tried to get to Billy, who she “adored.”In the way she had a crash, but even so she continued her journey to see how Billy was doing. She arrived to the hospital door just in time, poisoned with carbon monoxide. She was dead at the door to visit Billy, who didn’t very much love her. “So it goes.” As if this wasn’t enough, we then find out Billy couldn’t attend the funeral he provoked, but he shows no sign of misery or sadness at his loss. It is all a big package full of ironies. One irony leads the way to the next and so on, making the story hilarious and contradictory.

Kurt Vonnegut has mastered the ability to narrate a war novel in a humorous way as depicted in his narration. Everything he said has some intention, or maybe more than one. The whole structure of the story is set out ironically. It is through irony that the reader can come to truly interpret and make sense of the words in hose pages. Great job Kurt, its all clear now… isn’t it?