"So it goes."
~ Slaughterhouse-Five, just about every other page in the book
When novels have mantras, it's pretty clear that the author is hinting at some kind of theme or main point. The mantra in Slaughterhouse-Five is "so it goes," and you can find that quote on just about any page in the book.
The quote is found after every time something unfortunate happens, usually a death. One may think that it is really ironic, and I guess in a way it is, but the message behind it is completely serious.
Throughout the book, I've been picking up a mood of resignation and acceptance of the inevitable. I think that that may be a theme. Billy is so accepting of all the crap that's happened to him. I mean if I were abducted by aliens and kept jumping around in time, I would probably have questions, if not some concerns.
But anyway, the mantra represents this theme because it's simple, straightforward nature mirrors that of the perspective that "death is something I and everybody else cannot control; that is how the world works and the sooner we can deal with that, the sooner we can live the life we possess at the moment." It's a little harsh, but given the conditions Billy is under where he never knows who he will be with next or even what year it will be, it makes sense in context.
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