All The World's A Stage!

Page 257, when Howard W. Campbell Jr. asks Dr. Epstein to turn him into Israeli police:

“This is not the first time you’ve seen eyes like that,” [Mrs. Epstein] said to her son in German, “not the first man you’ve seen who could not move unless someone told him where to move, who longed for someone to tell him what to do next, who would do anything anyone told him to do next. You saw thousands of them in Auschwitz.”

[...]

“You still want revenge?” [Epstein] asked [his mother].

“Yes,” she said.

He put his face close to mine. “And you really want to be punished?” he said.

“I want to be tried,” I said.

“It’s all play acting,” [Epstein] said, exasperated with both of us. “It proves nothing!”

This passage encompasses many of the important issues of the novel, ones that I can hopefully address without rambling. What does identity mean, and who is it defined by? Are we responsible for our actions? To what extent are we both the victims and the persecutors in war? Finally, what is the meaning of life?

Identity in Mother Night is often dramatically ironic because of the novel’s premise: Howard Campbell is a spy for the Americans, but everyone in the world except for three people believe him to be a Nazi propaganda agent. There is a noteworthy divide between Campbell’s essence and the “character” he must play, but does it really matter if no one knows this inner person? I think Vonnegut actually quite explicitly answers this question, though with tongue-in-cheek, when he states: “We are what we pretend to be.” As in, Campbell’s identity has been externalized to the point where he decides to give himself up to the Israelis, because after all, he is this Nazi persona to everyone else in the world. I don’t think this is a case of cognitive dissonance either, which would suggest he turns himself in because his thoughts must conform to his actions. I think it is more indicative of his fatalism, if anything. He must accept the consequences of his actions, even IF he didn’t mean them inwardly, because he views his path as inevitable. Perhaps there is some truth in Adolf Eichmann’s advice--the secret of success is evincing what is expected of you.

It is also interesting to note the contrast between Epstein’s mother and Campbell in this scene. Life is without objective meaning or direction, as attested by the thousands of Auschwitz victims who “longed for someone to tell them what to do next.” Therefore, characters must create their own purposes in life: Epstein’s mother wants revenge, and Campbell wants to be tried for his crimes against humanity. (Note that this is not always what his purpose is--at the beginning, it seems his meaning in life is to love Helga. Likewise, O’Hare’s purpose is to kill Campbell, nihilistic Resi’s purpose is to find a purpose, and Kraft defines his purpose as primarily artistic.) To me, it is intriguing that Epstein’s mother wants revenge here. She serves as a device to demonstrate that humans all have a hateful side--fascists killed people they deemed as weaker out of self-righteousness, but those persecuted can be driven to hatred just as easily. The distinction between “enemy” and “friend” is blurred throughout the novel, and perhaps Vonnegut is saying that these are just more roles people create.

Discussion: Is everyone in the world merely playing a part? If so, how can we define truth? Is there absolute anything?