Cat's Cradle Analysis

The World According to Kurt Vonnegut
By simply looking at the tile of Kurt Vonnegut's novel Cat's Cradle the reader can gain extensive insight into the mindset and mysteries of life that puzzled and excited Vonnegut. Cat's Cradle is a child's game which holds certain significance in the novel for little Newt, the son of the man who created the atomic bomb, and it is often referenced in throughout course of the novel in regards to lies that people tell themselves and others to make them happy. The cat's cradle creates X’s and, “No damn cat, and no damn cradle.” (Vonnegut 166) according to little Newt. Yet, there is harm in such a game that is full of lies and nonsense, it only delights young children and gives them a mesmerizing pastime. Vonnegut's
attitude toward religion can be expressed in a similar matter, there's no harm in lies that don't hurt anyone.
On the other hand, Vonnegut feels that science, which is not made up of lies, has a consciousness and it is responsible for the destruction it caused and the lives it employees in the uncovering of its mysteries. Likewise, nationalism, which Vonnegut helps to explain through his made up religion of Bokononism, is a complex unnecessary and unrealistic set of conformations that hold people in constrained social groups according to false pretenses. Science is at the forefront of Cat's Cradle and serves to move the novel along and pull the narrator into exciting and unexpected places. At first, Vonnegut asserts that science is over rated and those who understand and dedicate their lives to it are no better than those who choose a different path. By explaining the story of Felix Hoenikker, Vonnegut expresses how such a socially awkward man can be so useless anywhere but in his lab, and, the fact that he is revered by his colleges does nothing for him at the end of his life. All of the “science” that Felix discovers and the creation of the atomic bomb is superficial and overrated when it comes to the things that really matter in life. However, when looking deeper, Vonnegut dismisses the idea that science is above
everything and the social norms the way Felix lived above social norm. In the end, Felix died just like the rest of society even though he was seen as above everything and everyone throughout the book. Angela, Felix's daughter explained that “a scientist turned to Father and said, “Science has now known sin”. ...He said “What is sin’”(Vonnegut 17), when asked about his atomic bomb. Felix, who is a symbol of science and its seeming separation from reality says that he does not know sin because he does not live on the same moral compass that the rest of the world and instead works for “knowledge” and does not have time for the mundane expressions of sin. However, Vonnegut dismisses that presumption and exemplifies how science is destroying humanity and constraining our lives and in doing so is responsible for its actions. When moving through the city, the novel's narrator observes how the people obeyed the machines that instructed them what to do ,”telling the glacier of automobiles what to do. Green meant go. Red meant stop.” (Vonnegut 30). Our dependence and willingness to conform and let technology dictate our lives can not only be demonstrated throughout the novel but also in everyday life as more and more people come to live by their iphones and iwatches, never without the “science” that they serve. In the end of the novel, science ultimately destroys the world and most of its people and to Vonnegut it is science's fault and not that of the poor people who entangle themselves in sciences mechanisms for mayhem. In terms of his religious views, all of Vonnegut's realizations are clearly outlined in his made up religion of Bokononism and its effects on society. The pretext of Cat's Cradle is , “Live by Foma (Harmless untruths) that make you brave and kind and happy.” (The Books of Bokonon), a line which fully explains Vonnegut's attitude toward religion. Vonnegut realized that religion, all religions are lies but not fake because they are real and plausible to those who follow them. Religions are are also extremely useful and necessary to our existence as a human race. In the fourth chapter of Cat's Cradle, the author states his warning, “Anyone unable to understand how a useful religion can be founded on lies will not understand this book either” (Vonnegut 5), a statement which holds truth and become the outline for the novel. The story of the Bokononism on the island is one of a made up religion which was created out of lies in order to give the people of the island an obvious good and evil in their lives. It is this “dynamic tension” that holds society together on the island and in our own world today. Not a soul cares that the good, “religion” is made up of lies, it gives people a hope and a clear set line between the dark and light. Bokonon, the leader of the Bokononism religion explains that “she was a fool, and so am I, and so is anyone who thinks he sees what God is doing”(Vonnegut 5). The fact that the prophet of a religion states that he is a fool and anyone is who tries the explain what is happening in our lives shows that all he has ever made up is lies and that he wants everyone who follows Bokononism to know that he has as much right as they do to explain the making of our world. Thusly, all religion can cause suffering and pain, yet, it is a lie that often causes more happiness than anything else not matter how useless and fruitless the happiness is. Vonnegut's ideas about nationalism are demonstrated in the book of Bokonon and his definition of a granfalloon. A granfalloon is a “false karas”, (Vonnegut 91) a karass being a group of people that do God's wishes without ever knowing that they are doing it. As Vonnegut expresses, their are many granfalloons in the word like the “Communist party, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the General Electric Company” (Vonnegut 91), all groups of people who believe they have things in common and should work together under a united goal. Vonnegut asserts that these groups are actually worthless and aren’t really doing any meaningful work of God but rather distracting them from their true karass and the duties they are to subconsciously fulfill. To Vonnegut, the sense of nationality that people feel for their country is very silly and unnecessary as he demonstrates through the celebration of the Hundred Martyrs to Democracy. The San Lorenzo celebration is for a hundred soldiers that died and had no particular impact on the war or anything and therefore the celebration is merely an excuse for the celebration of a country. Vonnegut argues that all such celebrations are mealy a chance for people to feel prideful in something that they have not true connection to at and is consequently useless. Hence forth, through the examination of religion, science and nationality, Vonnegut feels that although much of what we do is useless and unnecessary it is what makes up life. In the end, as Philip Castle describes it, “you’ll forget it when you're dead, and so will I. When I’m dead, I’m going to forget everything and I advise you to do the same” (Vonnegut 151), so why bother trying to do anything useful or trying to understand anything when in the end it will all disappear.