How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
I am an American by birth, a Nazi by reputation, and a nationless person by inclination. (1.2)
That pretty much sums it up. Every land is no-man's land to Campbell, since he's voluntarily a rogue citizen. He doesn't feel loyal to any nation. We guess working for the Nazis might do that to a person.
Quote #2
I was sitting alone on a park bench in the sunshine that day, thinking of a fourth play that was beginning to write itself in my mind. It gave itself a title, which was 'Das Reich der Zwei'—'Nation of Two.'
It was going to be about the love my wife and I had for each other. It was going to show how a pair of lovers in a world gone mad could survive by being loyal only to a nation composed of themselves—a nation of two. (9.5-6)
Campbell doesn't really care what country a person's birth certificate comes from; what matters to him is who you love. He loves Helga and just wants to live all day in their bed. Population of bed: 2. If patriotism were a religion (and to some people, like Hitler, it pretty much is), then this would be blasphemy. It's WWII, and WWII was a total war. Total war isn't about your happiness—it's about your sacrifice. We can see the appeal in Campbell's fantasy to stay in bed.
Quote #3
We were a very popular couple, gay and patriotic. People used to tell us that we cheered them up, made them want to go on. And Helga didn't go through the war simply looking decorative, either. She entertained the troops, often within the sound of enemy guns.
Enemy guns? Somebody's guns, anyway. (10.5-6)
Did you catch that? The moment when Campbell called Allied gunfire enemy gunfire? It's hard to keep your loyalties straight when you're doing covert ops. It's even harder when you think nations and borders are stupid—which Campbell does.
Quote #4
If we had listened for more, had thought about what we heard, what a nauseated couple we would have been. Away from the sovereign territory of our nation of two, we talked like the patriotic lunatics all around us. (10.19)
Campbell and Helga are just a crazy pair of lovebirds surrounded by crazy Nazi patriots. Everyone's mad in this story; it's just a matter of what your madness makes you do.
Quote #5
Only one thing counted —
The nation of two.
And when that nation ceased to be, I became what I am today and what I always will be, a stateless person. (10.20-23)
So, why exactly is Campbell so hell-bent on seeing himself as a stateless person? Like, we get it, but it's super interesting that he chooses to lose himself in love rather than, say, be secretly super patriotic toward the U.S.
We're not naïve. We get that he's seeing the horrors of ideology run amok first hand. But he's also getting a kick out of playing into that writing wacky propaganda.
Okay, we've got no concrete answers here, but we do want to say this: the state of Campbell's statelessness is a choice. He chose to make Helga his homeland, and he chose to always be stateless ever after. But does the world let you choose like that? Is it possible actually to be stateless?
Quote #6
The object of the weight was to give schoolchildren something to exercise with, in between classes. The ad pointed out that the physical fitness of American children was below that of the children of almost every land on earth. (12.31)
No self-respecting patriot would be content if his or her country were anything less than number one in the world in any category. Give those children weight training, are we right? How can America say it's number one if they're objectively ranked last?
Quote #7
Drawn crudely in the dust of three window-panes were a swastika, a hammer and sickle, and the Stars and Stripes. I had drawn the three symbols weeks before, at the conclusion of an argument about patriotism with Kraft. I had given a hearty cheer for each symbol, demonstrating to Kraft the meaning of patriotism to represent a Nazi, a Communist, and an American. 'Hooray, hooray, hooray.' I'd said. (16.18-19)
Three different symbols, three different ideals, and it all comes down to cheering. All three of these ideologies require you to go to a sporting area and chant. This is grim stuff. Vonnegut wants us to consider that if all three of these groups are willing to shovel their citizens onto a gruesome battlefield and then tell them that to die is to live forever, then maybe people need to reevaluate how their participation in society is playing out.
Quote #8
'Oh, it's just so damn cheap, so damn typical,' I said. 'This used to be a day in honor of the dead of World War One, but the living couldn't keep their grubby hands off of it, wanted the glory of the dead for themselves. So typical, so typical. Any time anything of real dignity appears in this country, it's torn to shreds and thrown to the mob.' (23.42)
Campbell says this when he finds out that the U.S. swapped out Armistice Day for Veterans Day. Why do the dead have more honor than the living, in Campbell's eyes? Does Campbell value the sacrifices of WWI more because his father had a WWI picture that he loved? Is it because changing the holiday erases the past? Lots of questions.
There are no easy answers, but we're a little surprised here. This is the first time Campbell reveals any kind of patriotic sentiment: he seems to care a lot about lives lost in the line of duty—a form of combat very different from his own participation in the war.
Quote #9
'You hate America, don't you?' she said.
'That would be as silly as loving it,' I said. 'It's impossible for me to get emotional about it, because real estate doesn't interest me. It's no doubt a great flaw in my personality, but I can't think in terms of boundaries. Those imaginary lines are as unreal to me as elves and pixies. I can't believe that they mark the end or the beginning of anything of real concern to a human soul. Virtues and vices, pleasures and pains cross boundaries at will.' (23.43-44)
Looking at a map, it's easy to forget that humans made up the boundaries in the first place. Animals, plants, water, air, fire, disease—all these things travel without passports. Campbell never forgets this, so he doesn't privilege one nationality over another. The illusion of statehood isn't compelling to him, and you can't be a devout patriot if you keep the reality of physical geography in mind.
Quote #10
The Republic of Israel stepped up its demands for me, encouraged by rumors that I wasn't an American citizen, that I was, in fact, a citizen of nowhere. And the Republic's demands were framed so as to be educational, too—teaching that a propagandist of my sort was as much a murderer as Heydrich, Eichmann, Himmler, or any of the gruesome rest. (29.5)
Whether the boundaries are imaginary or not, belonging to a nation confers certain protections that being a "citizen of nowhere" does not. Campbell's statelessness makes him more vulnerable to punishment for crimes that occurred in the service of valuing nationalism too much and human life too little.