Loyalties in Kurt Vonnegut’s Mother Night Essay -- Mother Night

Kurt Vonnegut’s Mother Night is a novel that deals with the loyalties that humans form to each other, as well as things and places. However, Vonnegut does not address this issue by creating a cast of characters who are loyal and true to a particular person, place or thing; instead, he places the reader in a world that is seemingly void of all sense of loyalty and trustworthiness. Almost every character in this novel is apparently devoid of all ability to trust, and more significantly, be trusted. In his creation of this dark and uncertain world, Vonnegut is effectively emphasizing the importance of allegiances in one’s life. Through characters like Howard W. Campbell, Jr. and Resi Noth, among others, he proves that a life without loyalty and devotion is not a life worth living. Each character is lacking the same core qualities and abilities, yet each shows this deficiency in a different way - by betraying a country, another person, or themselves. Because of their betrayals, each of them ends up miserable, in prison, or dead, with the possible exception of Frank Wirtanen. Every life in this novel is somehow affected by the deceit and inability to sustain any kind of commitment that these characters so tragically display. Howard W. Campbell, Jr., the main character of the novel, experiences the most severe and damaging lack of loyalty and coherency in his life. Howard’s problems begin when he agrees to become an American spy posing as a Minister of Propaganda for the Nazis during World War II. No one knows of his true identity except for himself and three other men; therefore, everyone believes Howard to be a Nazi. At times, it seems as though Howard himself is not entirely sure whether or not he is a Naz... ...: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition. Salem Press, 2000. Magill On Literature. 29 Nov. 2002. Hume, Kathryn. â€Å"Vonnegut’s Melancholy.† Philological Quarterly. 77.2 (1998): 221- 238. Klinkowitz, Jerome. Kurt Vonnegut. London and New York: Metheun, 1982. Reed, Peter J. â€Å"Kurt Vonnegut Jr.† Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 152: American Novelists Since World War II, Fourth Series. Bruccoli Clark Layman, 1995. 248-272. Dictionary of Literary Biography. Gale Group Databases. 27 Nov. 2002. Somer, John, and Jerome Klinkowitz, eds. The Vonnegut Statement. USA: Delacorte Press/Seymour Lawrence, 1973. Vonnegut, Kurt. Mother Night. New York: Random House, 1966. Westbrook, Perry D. "Kurt Vonnegut Jr.: Overview.† Contemporary Novelists, 6th ed. St. James Press, 1996. Literature Resource Center. Gale Group Databases. 26 Nov. 2002. Loyalties in Kurt Vonnegut’s Mother Night Essay -- Mother Night Kurt Vonnegut’s Mother Night is a novel that deals with the loyalties that humans form to each other, as well as things and places. However, Vonnegut does not address this issue by creating a cast of characters who are loyal and true to a particular person, place or thing; instead, he places the reader in a world that is seemingly void of all sense of loyalty and trustworthiness. Almost every character in this novel is apparently devoid of all ability to trust, and more significantly, be trusted. In his creation of this dark and uncertain world, Vonnegut is effectively emphasizing the importance of allegiances in one’s life. Through characters like Howard W. Campbell, Jr. and Resi Noth, among others, he proves that a life without loyalty and devotion is not a life worth living. Each character is lacking the same core qualities and abilities, yet each shows this deficiency in a different way - by betraying a country, another person, or themselves. Because of their betrayals, each of them ends up miserable, in prison, or dead, with the possible exception of Frank Wirtanen. Every life in this novel is somehow affected by the deceit and inability to sustain any kind of commitment that these characters so tragically display. Howard W. Campbell, Jr., the main character of the novel, experiences the most severe and damaging lack of loyalty and coherency in his life. Howard’s problems begin when he agrees to become an American spy posing as a Minister of Propaganda for the Nazis during World War II. No one knows of his true identity except for himself and three other men; therefore, everyone believes Howard to be a Nazi. At times, it seems as though Howard himself is not entirely sure whether or not he is a Naz... ...: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition. Salem Press, 2000. Magill On Literature. 29 Nov. 2002. Hume, Kathryn. â€Å"Vonnegut’s Melancholy.† Philological Quarterly. 77.2 (1998): 221- 238. Klinkowitz, Jerome. Kurt Vonnegut. London and New York: Metheun, 1982. Reed, Peter J. â€Å"Kurt Vonnegut Jr.† Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 152: American Novelists Since World War II, Fourth Series. Bruccoli Clark Layman, 1995. 248-272. Dictionary of Literary Biography. Gale Group Databases. 27 Nov. 2002. Somer, John, and Jerome Klinkowitz, eds. The Vonnegut Statement. USA: Delacorte Press/Seymour Lawrence, 1973. Vonnegut, Kurt. Mother Night. New York: Random House, 1966. Westbrook, Perry D. "Kurt Vonnegut Jr.: Overview.† Contemporary Novelists, 6th ed. St. James Press, 1996. Literature Resource Center. Gale Group Databases. 26 Nov. 2002.