You may have noticed that in Mother Night, the boundaries between patriotism, nationalism, and religion get pretty blurred. Take a look at any Nazi rally, and you see people so zealous about their national and racial identity that for all intents and purposes, they've turned it into an actual religion. (Let's not even get started on the weird Holy Grail stuff…)
This is scary to Kurt Vonnegut. Blind faith can go pretty wonky pretty quickly. It certainly did in Nazi Germany when Hitler started to blend Christian doctrine with the agenda of the Third Reich. Yeah, it's possible, and it's messed up.
Questions About Religion
- Is this text a critique of religion? Explain.
- What are the parallels between religion and patriotism?
- What are the pitfalls of blind faith presented in this text?
- Why do you think Christianity is the most visible example of religion in this text?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
Religion is a dangerous weapon in this text.
All the religious characters in this novel are also blindly devoted to nationalistic causes.