Page 1 Analysis - Passage from Kurt Vonnegut’s Novel ‘god Bless You Mr Rosewater’

The passage from Kurt Vonnegut’s novel, ‘God Bless You Mr Rosewater’ uses a number of language techniques and styles to make a mockery of and emphasise the hypocrisy in American society. In the opening sentence, Vonnegut says that “A sum of money is a leading character in this tale about people,” and this infers that money is a trait of a person rather than being a physical object that we use to purchase things. This metaphor implies that money is the motivation and primary source of happiness for people in this society.

Furthermore, Vonnegut likens the love and motivation to make money that humans have to bees and honey. The simile, “just as a sum of honey might properly be a leading character in a tale about bees.”, shows that the only way that people can gain fulfilment and meaning in life is through having or making money and it is the only thing that we know how to do, much like bees and their production of honey.

The brief profile that we are given of Norman Mushari starts off with the words, “soft eyes of a boy” suggesting Mushari’s innocence. However, straight after we are given the impression of Mushari’s innocence, we are given the word, “shyster” contradicting the previous words used to describe Mushari and shows the deceptive and intellectual nature of Mushari as a young lawyer.

Throughout the passage, there are many phrases and words that are used to emphasise the hypocrisy in American society. The phrase, “…nearly $10,000 a day-Sundays, too.”, is contradicting Americans as they preached and encouraged following Christianity during that era but still continued to work on their religious day of rest. This further explores the point that people would do anything to get their hands on money.

There is a mixture of formal and informal language throughout the passage. Vonnegut saying that the Rosewater fortune is “stashed into a foundation in order that tax collectors and predators” that