Loyalties in Kurt Vonnegut’s 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...

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