So It Goes Analysis
Today in English, we were talking about motifs and my teacher asked us if we had read the book “Slaughterhouse Five” before (we hadn’t), but then he preceded to tell us that the big motif in the book is when the characters keep on saying “So It Goes” and I legit FREAKED out.
So I did a little research and apparently, the motif is used when death occurs, as a narrative transition to another subject, and to explain the unexplained.
In the death sense of the motif, on the album, it’s used to sorta say how “the old Taylor is dead,” and the “new” Taylor is born.
It’s used as a narrative transition by shifting narrative from the media to her, since she is the one who is controlling the narrative now (”I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative”). It also shows the transition on the album from more dark and vengeful Taylor to a more romantic and flowery Taylor (hello, her watercolor flowers?).
The motif also explains the unexplained by telling the media and the whole world that “Hey, this is my story, you have to listen to my words since they are the truth.”
In other words, “There will be no explanation. There will just be reputation.”
So it goes.
@taylorswift