Foster explains how he has everything he needs: "I have a wonderful wife and child, a nice house for them, and a car" (68). Foster quickly evokes sympathy in the reader as Vonnegut paints him and his situation with compassionate brushstrokes. .
On one hand, Foster is idealized as the doting, hard-working family man and is a sharp contrast to the greedy investor who values only wealth. This is illustrated through his thoughts as the story's narrator: "God knows what he wanted from the securities. It didn't seem to be what everyone else wanted-money" (67). Here the reader gains a clearer insight into the investor's value system and the lens with which he views the world. Vonnegut employs humor to contrast these two characters and as the story progresses Vonnegut sends a clear message about the society in which he lives-a society that is mercenary by nature. However, the theme of the short story is one of balance with each character occupying ends of the greed spectrum and it is along this spectrum that the reader comes to understand Vonnegut's desire for a more balanced perspective. Interestingly, though Vonnegut does not stop there but instead walks the reader along this continuum in surprising ways. .
Vonnegut employs situational irony to flip the reader's expectations at the end of the story when the reader learns that Foster is in fact dishonest and even selfish. Three out of the seven days of the week, Foster is supposedly working a night job when in reality he gets drunk at a bar and plays jazz piano. It is interesting to note that in some ways, money, or supposed lack thereof, buys Foster exactly what he wants, an escape. Foster's money allows him the freedom to escape his basic life and be the person he always swore he would never be: his absent, neglectful father. This causes the reader to question Foster's true motives because he claims his family is his point to life and yet he tries to spend as little time as possible with them.
