Theme Of Satire In Mother Night

Complacency is more dangerous than participation in times of war. Through his novel, Mother Night, Kurt Vonnegut describes the life of an American spy, Howard W. Campbell Jr: Campbell worked as a radio broadcaster for the German Ministry of Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda and sent coded messages out to the allies through his radio broadcasts during the war. Authors use devices in writing to further their content. Kurt Vonnegut uses juvenalian satire in Mother Night to prove that through pretending to be something it will eventually lead that person to become the thing they are pretending to be. The portrayal of Howard Campbell as morally self-righteous is evident through Vonnegut’s use of sardonic voice and invective. While in jail, Campbell looks back on his time shortly after WWII and recalls his discussion with Colonel Frank Wirtanen, “He beamed at me and he shook my hand warmly, and he said, ‘Well—what did you think of that war, Campbell?’” Campbell responds by saying, “I would just as soon have stayed out of it” (Vonnegut, ch. 32). Vonnegut sends a literal message through Campbell 's desire to avert the war: there is a lack of commitment to a moral ideal. Vonnegut demonstrates that Campbell has no allegiance to any nation through his comment, “I would have just as soon stayed out

In a previous meeting, Wirtanen implies to Campbell that no one would be able to escape participation in the war, which reigns true throughout the book. Vonnegut’s