Mother Night, Welcome to the Monkey House, and Harrison Bergeron :: Mother Night Essays

Government vs. Individual in Mother Night, Welcome to the Monkey House, and Harrison Bergeron Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. has made important contributions to the development of the 20th century American novel. His influences are felt in modern social satire, as well as nontraditional science fiction. One theme that is recurrent in his work is the common portrayal of government forces as destructive to individuals; to force characters to do evil in the name of good. Kurt Vonegut, Jr. was born November 11, 1922 in Indianapolis, Indiana, the son of an architect. He attended Cornell University in 1940, studying biochemistry, but soon quit because his grades were poor. He worked as a columnist for the Cornell Daily Sun until joining the army in 1942. He was captured by the Germans in 1944 and forced to work in a factory, where he lived through the fire bombing of Dresden. This, and the suicide of his mother in 1944, were the two most influential events in his life. After the war he worked for the Chicago News Bureau and studied anthropology. He has written many novels and one short story collection. His most acclaimed work, Slaughterhouse-Five, is a twisted account of the Dresden bombing. He is still alive and writing. His most recent published work, Timequake, appeared in the December 1997 Playboy Magazine. Mother Night was Vonnegut's third novel and one his few works that contains no elements of science fiction. Though this novel is not one of his most critically acclaimed, it serves as a prime example of Vonnegut's skill as a black humorist and weaver of human absurdity. Mother Night is the story of Howard W. Campbell, Jr, Nazi radio propagandist and American spy. The novel begins and ends in the same spot; a "new jail in old Jerusalem" (Mother Night p. Mother Night, Welcome to the Monkey House, and Harrison Bergeron :: Mother Night Essays Government vs. Individual in Mother Night, Welcome to the Monkey House, and Harrison Bergeron Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. has made important contributions to the development of the 20th century American novel. His influences are felt in modern social satire, as well as nontraditional science fiction. One theme that is recurrent in his work is the common portrayal of government forces as destructive to individuals; to force characters to do evil in the name of good. Kurt Vonegut, Jr. was born November 11, 1922 in Indianapolis, Indiana, the son of an architect. He attended Cornell University in 1940, studying biochemistry, but soon quit because his grades were poor. He worked as a columnist for the Cornell Daily Sun until joining the army in 1942. He was captured by the Germans in 1944 and forced to work in a factory, where he lived through the fire bombing of Dresden. This, and the suicide of his mother in 1944, were the two most influential events in his life. After the war he worked for the Chicago News Bureau and studied anthropology. He has written many novels and one short story collection. His most acclaimed work, Slaughterhouse-Five, is a twisted account of the Dresden bombing. He is still alive and writing. His most recent published work, Timequake, appeared in the December 1997 Playboy Magazine. Mother Night was Vonnegut's third novel and one his few works that contains no elements of science fiction. Though this novel is not one of his most critically acclaimed, it serves as a prime example of Vonnegut's skill as a black humorist and weaver of human absurdity. Mother Night is the story of Howard W. Campbell, Jr, Nazi radio propagandist and American spy. The novel begins and ends in the same spot; a "new jail in old Jerusalem" (Mother Night p.