EngLit

Reka Orban · Dunker Data inscrierii: 10/Dec/2009 Mesaje: 16

Mother Night by Vonnegut presents the dilemma that Howord W Campbell, the main character of this book has. He is an American, who lives in Germany. He became a Nazy propagandist, because he was a spy for the Americans, or so he thought. he always ask himself that, if by being an American spy, compensate all the bad things that he has done by being a nazi propagandist. Is he really doing good, or much more evil things than others.
This book is an amazing allegory of humans duality. It presents us the good and the evil, the life until and after the World War II, the past and present, life and death. The protagonist is now faced with doubt, weather he helped the Americans more than Germany.
Vonnegut, in my opinion, tries to show us that a character is both a hero and a villain. No one can be just good or bad, there is good and evil in us, we just have to figure it out what pat we choose to follow. We have to identify were we stand in a world of dublu standards, because like Vonnegut says:

Reka Orban · Dunker Data inscrierii: 10/Dec/2009 Mesaje: 16

I personally really enjoyed reading this book, because it has a lot of good things to say about how humans can fool themselves into believing that what they are doing is right.

anastasia · Plunger Data inscrierii: 17/Noi/2009 Mesaje: 27

I can say that this book is one of the best works of world literature. I read this book in couple of hours, it captured me. And the style of the book is very easy to read. The meaning of the book is simple, and the author does not hide this he just writes about it in the beginning of the book. I read a lot of reading reviews of this book on the Internet, and many perceive this book aggressively, because the protagonist was a Nazi. But I really enjoy reading the book. I liked the best the love chapter when the main character meets his “wife” (who actually was her sister) after so many years and they go to a hotel to make love. It is so romantic scene.

anastasia · Plunger Data inscrierii: 17/Noi/2009 Mesaje: 27

The book is full with great quotes. I think here everybody can find some close to their heart, here are some:

peride_ cristina · Trimis: 21/06/2012 12:33 Titlul subiectului:

Mother night is an excellent novel, written mainly in cinema techniques. Howard W. Campbell Jr., a criminal from the war very well known, is writing his memories in jail in the '60s. Very objective and quite ironic sometimes. He introduces himself like:

Originally i'm an american, by reputation a Nazy and, by vocation - i have no nationality. or I worked in radio as Nazi propagandist, I was an anti-Semitic filthy mouth and really disgusting.

The beginning of the narrative has to go deep for us to understand: We are what we pretend that we are therefore we have to be careful at what we pretend we are.

Although he is writing an autobiographic novel, what he is doing is presenting the others, following them from the perspective of a filming camera. And i feel that this is a way of blaming everybody there, not only him. There are no positive characters, no good man in Mother Night. The narrator does not incriminate anyone and everything that happens seems to be natural. He seems to be just a performer, one that is not thinking too much, that doesn't have any choices and that he always has only one way to move forward - like the ancient faith of man "in time" man is nothing but a victim, a subject to destiny.
The narrator never makes gesture of opposition. He receives everything that life brings him with a rather calming and loving attitude. And perhaps this is the only moral beyond the compromise that corrupts all the souls, the only window through which is seen and tolerated this world.
_________________
Peride Cristina