Chapter 5 Summary

The phrase, "So it goes," is a reoccurring motif throughout the book. There is a deeper meaning than Vonnegut presents in the statement. After everything Billy experiences with war and truama, he realizes life continues: "He was dead now. So it goes." The deaths of war are stressed throughout chapter five.  Death is reoccuring in war. The phrase is repeated every time there is a death. The phrase relates to life continuing as death deterates emotions and surroundings.