Chapter 2 - Diction

After reading chapter two, my mind feels slightly violated to say the least. I understand that Billy Pilgrim is a time traveler, but my goodness Vonnegut; make it a clear story line! Lord knows that if this was an SAT essay, he would be receiving a terrible score. Anyway, both my confusion and understanding come from Vonnegut's diction. My confusion comes from the unclear transition from time period to time period. From what I understand, the phrase, "So it goes" (35) comes into play. After the lovely story of the alien plungers from Tralfamadore, it would seem as though Billy is questioning life after death. In other words, the plungers of Tralfamdore have told Billy that at death, a person doesn't die, but they just keep living in that single moment (a.k.a. a stand still). They then taught him how to time travel which he soon realizes is uncontrollable. Through Billy's life and time travel, he encountered several deaths only to be followed by the infamous phrase, "So it goes" (35). With time travel in mind, the phrase questions death making death seem as it is something that supposedly happens and is not definite. In contrast, the diction Vonnegut uses complicates and contradicts Billy's time traveling since Vonnegut wrote, "He has seen his birth and death many times, he says, and pays random visits to all the events in between" (23). This suggests that Billy cannot travel before his birth or after death. That is aggravating because it shouldn't be called time traveling; it should be called reminiscing. AHHH!!! Classics bother me...