God Bless You Mr Rosewater A Satire

All Throughout Kurt Vonnegut’s, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, satire plays a large role. He satirizes the American Dream by making the people who do not have it or that have it but do not care about it the most liked people. He satirizes it by, in a way, making fun of the people who have obtained it. He uses characters in his story to help satirize the American Dream. Vonnegut makes the American Dream that everyone talks about, about having wealth and high class. However, the moral to his satire and story is that they do not have to have money and high class to have the American Dream. If they are happy and doing what they want to do, they already have it.
Eliot Rosewater seems to be the exception in this book. He was born into the American

Dream, however, he does not seem to enjoy it very much. This is an aspect of satire because he shows that even if he has it, it is not all he needs. He still wants more for his life.
Early in the book Vonnegut sets up Eliot’s past.

He wrote, “He received a doctorate in that field, and was handed simultaneously the presidency of the new Rosewater Foundation. His duties, according to the charter, were exactly as flimsy or as formidable as he himself declared them to be. Eliot chose to take the Foundation seriously,” (Page 16). This quote explains that even though he was handed all of these things and could basically do whatever he wanted to do with the Foundation, he chose to work hard and expand it. Vonnegut also explained that because of everything he had in life he became an alcoholic, he wrote, “He was a heavy drinker, but no one worried about it. No amount of booze seemed to make him drink,” (Page 16). He included this in the book because it shows that even if he has the American Dream, he still has troubles. This quote explained that he drinks so much that alcohol does not seem to affect as much anymore. Eliot seemed to be able to do whatever he wanted to do throughout the story. He ran away from the generalized American Dream to his own version of it. He ran off, became a volunteer firefighter, and gave a lot of things, including money, to others. Eliot did not seem to like having all of the money and in the end of the book he ends up giving it all away. Vonnegut wrote, “Good. I now instruct you to draw up at once papers that will legally acknowledge that every child in Rosewater County said to be mine is mine, regardless of blood type. Let them all

have full rights of inheritance as my sons and daughters,” (Page 274). He ends up splitting the family fortune up in order to give many other people their own American Dream.
Harry Pena and Selena Deal are the characters that Vonnegut gives their own, different type of American Dream. They do not have high class and a bunch of money but they are happy just like they are. They are not constantly longing for more money and moving to a higher class. Selena is a young orphan who is a maid for the Buntlines. She is a very kind and polite young woman.
Vonnegut shows how she does not need much to be happy when he wrote, “Mrs. Buntline made me come out on the back porch and look at the sunset. So I did, and I said I liked it very much, but she kept waiting for me to say something else. I couldn’t think of what else I was suppose to say, so I said what seemed like a dumb thing. “Thank you very much,” I said,” (Page 194). He followed that up by writing, “I have since thanked her for the ocean, the moon, the stars in the sky, and the United Constitution,” (Page 194). This showed that it did not take much for Selena to be content and she was happy just like she is. Harry Pena is a professional fisherman. He, like Selena, does not need much to be happy. Vonnegut wrote, “He had not been a fisherman all his life. Harry had been an insurance bastard himself, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts,” (Page 151). Then he explains how he became a fisherman because his doctor said he has to work outside for the rest of his life. He wrote, “So Harry became what his father had been--a trap fisherman,” (Page 152). This shows that he does not need a bunch of money and a high class. He could have chose anything to be and he chose to be a fisherman. Both of these characters do not need much to be happy with their life. They created their own American Dream.
Fred Rosewater and Lila Buntline are used for Vonnegut to show satire in his book.

Fred is constantly trying to obtain the American Dream but he never can. However, Lila was born into the American Dream but does not care and goes out doing bad and illegal things. Throughout the book, Fred is constantly longing for more money but can never get it. Vonnegut says, “The workmen had an uneasy respect for Fred. They tried to be cynical about what he sold, but they knew in their hearts that he was offering the only get-rich-quick scheme that was open to them: to insure themselves and die soon,” (Page 135). Fred wanted to move up in classes so he would act like he was rich. Vonnegut uses satire to sculpt what Fred does all throughout the story. Lila is the opposite, she was born into wealth and high class but she does not act like it. Vonnegut wrote, “At thirteen, she was Pisquontuit’s leading dealer in smut. She was a dealer in fireworks, too, for the same reason she was a dealer in smut which was: Profit,” (Page 157). Vonnegut uses her to show the opposite side of Fred. She has high class and wealth but she still wants more and is doing bad things to get it. Vonnegut uses these two characters to show satire using two different sides. He kind of picks on these two characters the whole time to show that the American Dream is never obtainable. They both will always want

more.
Kurt Vonnegut does an excellent job of using satire throughout all of his story. He satirizes the American Dream using characters. He uses Selena Deal and Harry Pena to show that they do not need a bunch of money and a high class to be happy. He uses Fred Rosewater and Lila Buntline to show that the American Dream is not obtainable and that they will always long for more. Vonnegut uses Eliot Rosewater, as the main character, to show both sides of this. He uses Eliot to show that even if he has wealth and high class, he still wants more for his life. The moral to Vonnegut’s book is to satirize the American Dream by showing that it is unobtainable and to show that if they are happy, that is all they need.