Rasberry Sherbet please

Rasberry Sherbet Please

"Three inoffensive bangs came from far away. They came from German rifles. The two scouts who had ditched Billy and Weary had just been shot. They had been lying in ambush for Germans. They had been discovered and shot from behind. Now they were dying in the snow, feeling nothing, turning the snow to the color of raspberry sherbet. So it goes" (54).

In war, death is seen as a normal event. It happens often right? Its basically what war is about… death. The sound of the word, the view of the word, the word in every aspect gives me the chills. However, considering the atmosphere in WWII, the impact of the word was not as “chilly”. When reading this part in the book, readers are shocked by the death of the scouts even though it was predictable. Nevertheless, Vonnegut`s way of depicting it is as casual and graphic as possible. He uses a nonchalant tone and presents a sense of pure “So it goes”. In Billy’s view, it’s just another casualty and not just because he had just been ditched by them, but again because “So it goes”.

The setting is displayed in a paradoxical and graphic way. Vonnegut uses a lucid imagery when describing the scene of the scouts lying dead. “Now they were dying in the snow, feeling nothing, turning the snow to the color of raspberry sherbet. So it goes." The reader can absolutely imagine the dead scouts and when encountering the raspberry sherbet part, a light mood is brought up. This creates a slight confusion in the reader taking some of the “grief” away. It is on the other hand disgusting to relate blood with something as sweet an appealing as raspberry sherbet. Still it is this part that connects the miserable event with the “So it goes” train because a tragedy is being related to something bright suggesting that it must be accepted.