How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
'New York City must be Heaven,' said Mengel.
'It might well be for you,' I said. 'It was hell for me—or not Hell, something worse than Hell.'
'What could be worse than Hell?' he said.
'Purgatory,' I said. (5.56-59)
In Catholicism, purgatory is both a holding cell and a training ground. It's the place you go when you weren't good enough to get into heaven but you weren't bad enough to get sent to hell. After purgatory, you may get up to heaven, you may actually get sent to hell, or you might just hang out forever. It's depends on your soul's journey and if you can work past your sins. For Campbell, his symbolic purgatory is a time and place to stew on his regrets and guilt. For fifteen years.
Quote #2
My Helga believed I meant the things I said about the races of man and the machines of history, and I was grateful. No matter what I was really, no matter what I really meant, uncritical love was what I needed—and my Helga was the angel who gave it to me. (10.10)
Helga's love is described as what's promised in Christianity as the unconditional love from God. Just as Helga replaced Campbell's statehood in their "nation of two," she also acts as his holy lover who gives of herself unquestioningly.
Reading against the grain, we already know that Helga and Campbell don't really talk about politics, and they both act like good little Nazis. We think Campbell might not want to look at the fact that Helga may really have believed in all the things he pretended to believe in. Too dark? Did we pull a Resi and ruin the memory of their love? Sorry not sorry.
Quote #3
There was one pleasant thing about my ratty attic: the back window of it overlooked a little private park, a little Eden formed by joined back yards. That park, that Eden, was walled off from the streets by houses on all sides.
It was big enough for children to play hide-and-seek in.
I often heard a cry from that little Eden, a child's cry that never failed to make me stop and listen. It was the sweetly mournful cry that meant a game of hide-and-seek was over, that those still hiding were to come out of hiding, that it was time to go home.
The cry was this: 'Olly-olly-ox-in-free.'
And I, hiding from many people who might want to hurt or kill me, often longed for someone to give that cry for me, to end my endless game of hide-and-seek with a sweet and mournful—
'Olly-olly-ox-in-free.' (6.3-8)
We start out here with an allusion to the Garden of Eden. It's fitting that kids are playing in it, since they're supposed to be innocent and good. If we extend the metaphor, Campbell is looking at Eden longingly from purgatory. It's a world he can't access, and he's forced to remain in gloomy hiding as a result of his actions.
Quote #4
And so, with my Helga presumed dead, I became a death-worshipper, as content as any narrow-minded religious nut anywhere. Always alone, I drank toasts to her, said good morning to her, said good night to her, played music for her, and didn't give a damn for one thing else. (11.13)
Religious individuals aren't painted in a positive light here—Campbell calls them "nuts"—but more than that, Campbell describes himself as a "death-worshipper." It's a prime inversion of professed Christian ideals, because Christ is worshiped in part for overcoming death. Campbell builds rituals around his loss that further mimic Christian ones (solitary toasts instead of communion, nightly prayers, and playing music for Helga in lieu of a choir singing).
Quote #5
That may be so. I had hoped, as a broadcaster, to be merely ludicrous, but this is a hard world to be ludicrous in, with so many human beings so reluctant to laugh, so incapable of thought, so eager to believe and snarl and hate. So many people wanted to believe me. Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile. (29.6-7)
Mother Night is a dark comedy. We know this. We kind of think Campbell even knows this. He wants to play up the macabre humor in being a successful Nazi while secretly being a U.S. agent. Trouble is, most people don't share this sense of humor; they don't always get exaggeration or sarcasm.
Worse, for a career propagandist who doesn't believe in what he's saying, the more ridiculous Campbell's stereotypes are, the more powerful they become for people hungry for hate speech. That's why blind faith—in anything—is so messed up for Campbell. You never know how far that kind of belief will carry some people—even to violent ends.
Campbell is basically saying that his audience should have seen that what he was saying was insane. The fact that they couldn't is an ugly truth.
Quote #6
If there is another me after this one, I would like very much, in the next one, to be the sort of person of whom it could truly be said, 'Forgive him—he knows not what he does.' (29.51)
This is totally a shout-out to Jesus. As he's being crucified, he asks God to forgive those responsible because they don't know any better. It takes a lot of self-possession, empathy, and patience to ask something like that for your murderers—but that's not what Campbell is going for here.
Campbell's flipping the script because he says his own conscience is too heavy, and what a relief it would be if he could be a deranged sort of person who believes his own lies. Campbell is asking for the pass he feels he isn't allowed to have, because he does know better: being a Nazi is bad, even if you're doing it for Uncle Sam.
Quote #7
'We were all going to be born anew,' she said to him brokenly. (37.88)
Resi says this to Kraft. Apparently, even though she's a spy, too, she believed that all three of them (Campbell, Kraft, and Resi) were going to escape and live in paradise. The words she uses, of course, are pretty spiritual. It's like she's invoking a baptism—but instead of a new life in God, she's thinking of a tropical vacay.
Quote #8
Both moments at those splintered stairheads under the open sky were exquisite.
The exquisiteness went on for only a short time, naturally, for, like any human family, we loved our nests and needed them. But, for a minute or two, anyway, Helga and I felt like Noah and his wife on Mount Ararat.
There is no better feeling than that. And then the air-raid sirens blew again, and we realized that we were ordinary people, without dove or covenant, and that the flood, far from being over, had scarcely begun. (42.6-9)
Talk about religious imagery—Campbell and Helga have advanced from their nation of two to being Noah and his wife. Repopulating the planet, part deux. Downside: they're not really Noah and his wife, so they have no promise from God that everything will be okay. In the end, they decide to walk away, because bombs.
Quote #9
That one-eyed teacher set her down on the bench, propped her against the wall. And then he went to the highest-ranking person present, a vice-admiral, as it happened. 'She's a woman...hysterical...they get hysterical...she doesn't mean it...she has the Golden Order of Parenthood...' he said to the vice-admiral.
The vice-admiral wasn't baffled or annoyed. He didn't feel miscast. With fine dignity, he gave the man absolution. It's all right,' he said. 'It's understandable. Don't worry.'
The teacher marveled at a system that could forgive weakness. 'Heil Hitler,' he said, bowing as he backed away.
'Heil Hitler,' said the vice-admiral. The teacher now began to revive his wife. He had good news for her—that she was forgiven, that everyone understood. (42.22-26)
Hoooo, okay this is heavy-duty stuff right here. This goes way beyond just saying you love God and country; this is giving priestly powers to Nazis.
Okay, let's pick this moment apart.
First off we've got a tired German family. Right before this moment, the wife prays to God, acknowledging what must be his anger, considering all these explosions (which must be a sign of his wrath). She's asking him to stop. Yeah, well, her husband whacks her upside the head to get her to stop. Not cool, bro.
Then we realize that this dude is actually terrified of the S.S. men. Turns out the S.S. dudes don't care, and what follows is an over-the-top spiritual encounter derisively recalled by Campbell.
It's insane and kind of gross that the S.S. men are felt to offer not only absolution (forgiveness), but also a benediction (blessing) for the woman's "sins." The "Heil Hitler" response takes the place of "Amen," and religiosity turns out to be a really scary parallel to Nazism.
Quote #10
O'Hare had a far more exciting view of what we were to each other. When drunk, at any rate, he thought of himself as St George and of me as the dragon. (43.13)
This is religious allegory on top of religious allegory. St. George's dragon was a stand-in for the Devil. Guess we know what that makes Campbell to O'Hare.