So It Doesn't Go

                Though I’ve already read Slaughterhouse Five a couple of times, the insight I’ve gotten from class has been a bit different from my personal interpretation. Generally speaking, I came to the same conclusion my class did about Billy and Tralfamadore, but without the basis or deeper understanding of the irony Vonnegut includes in the novel. One of these ironic statements that I somehow managed to gloss over was the ever present “so it goes.” I’m actually astonished I managed to miss how often it was used, only really seeming to notice it with the larger incidents such as the fire bombing. I missed the irony in the lesser moments such as “The water was dead. So it goes.” On one hand, the statement serves as a statement on death to undermine it, and on the other serves to outrage. In my mind, the provoking “so it goes” is certainly one of the most important aspects of the novel in terms of how it gets us as readers to reevaluate the scenes we are reading and the prospects of war.

                Obviously, war is terrible and causes suffering for all involved, but when Vonnegut chooses to describe the scenes of war and death with the statement “So it goes”, it drains the event of all weight and emotion behind it. Perhaps one of the best examples of this may be from the conversation between O’Hare and Vonnegut over the population of Dresden at the beginning of chapter 10:

On an average, 324,000 new babies are born into the world every day. During that same day, 10,000 persons, in an average, will have starved to death or died from malnutrition. So it goes. In addition, 123,000 persons will die for other reasons. So it goes. This leaves a net gain of about 191,000 each day in the world.

                Any sort of emotion that may have been felt by reading that 10,000, on average, die of malnutrition daily and over a 100,000 more die from other causes as well is just gone. Frankly, it’s disconcerting how it’s just passed by like, “It just happens. Oh well! Let’s move on with life.” We get upset at the injustices of the events or the lack of caring behind the loss of life, and by doing so, fulfill the other aspect of “so it goes”. The statement just sticks out like a sore thumb with the moment it is injected into. Because of this jarring contrast, we get up in arms at these extreme cases of death, longing to do something about it, but not with more violence. If you think about it then, Vonnegut did manage to make a sort of anti-war novel, discouraging violence and encouraging action against the violence and war. That’s not to say that the message can be taken the wrong way, especially considering the end of Billy’s story and his family, but with an understanding of “so it goes”, it does succeed at least on some level.     

A Short Thought on What is Mumbo Jumbo and Why

                Mumbo Jumbo is a novel that, after having read it, I feel like I have gotten more out of it than just another read. The multitude of important ideas and topics that Reed calls attention to are represented in a way that, for some reason sticks with the reader better than another form of the medium or even another medium. The question of “What if Mumbo Jumbo was told in a lecture format?” came up in class today and the general response to it was “It wouldn’t have worked they way it did as a novel.” Which again raises another question: Why does Mumbo Jumbo stand out the way it does when it comes to how Reed portrays the novel?

                From a literary standpoint, Mumbo Jumbo, apart from its unconventional formatting, seems to have that extra something that novels of a similar type don’t have. We brought up how Mumbo Jumbo fits the framework for genres such as Historical Thriller and Detective nearly to a T, but that lack of fitting either of those entire is what seems to classify it as almost a whole new genre unless it just fits into the very general genre of Satire. That being said, Mumbo Jumbo is a satire down to the smallest details like spelling of words for instance. Humor is found in the caricature antagonists, the interspersing of scenes like Abdul’s desk, and wherever you look to be honest. The satire Reed uses is established as the norm from the start, so it isn’t jarring when reading, but more serves the purpose of highlighting those small details that, in a more serious novel may be glossed over entirely. The humor helps these deeper topics be noticed and easier to digest in some ways, which also lets Reed expound more on said topics. Mumbo Jumbo fits squarely in as a Satire in its style, however, I feel Mumbo Jumbo something more than just Satire, but I can’t place my finger on it. Any thoughts?