Symbolism In The Cat's Cradle By Kurt Vonnegut

A symbol is something that represents something else. In Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle, a reoccurring symbol is – unbelievably - the cat’s cradle, which is represented in three different ways. There’s the “literal cat’s cradle, which is where this symbol comes from, and there’s an image of the cradle. But the most interesting way the cat’s cradle is represented is when it’s used as a metaphor in different situations. The cats’ cradle is used as a symbol to signify the difference between the world as it seems, to the world as it really is. The literal reference to the term cat’s cradle comes from a game played with string. When Newt sees this he thinks there’s “nothing but a bunch of X’s between somebody’s hand”(166). But his father told him
that there was in fact, a cat’s cradle hidden inside those X’s. This is the meaning of the cat’s cradle Vonnegut uses throughout the book because the cat’s cradle is just some string twisted up in certain ways. There really is “no damn cat, and no damn cradle”(166). Newt’s painting was a representation of the cat’s cradle and should not be confused as the actual cat’s cradle. Even when it was drawn, Newt had to point out what it was to John. It wasn’t until then that John began to make connections. For example, he realized the scratches in the painting corresponded to the string that forms the cat’s cradle. I mean that’s what it seemed like, but in reality they were just scratch marks on a poorly drawn painting.
The third way the cat’s cradle was expressed was by metaphor and was used multiple times in regular situations. For example, John thought Angela had “a very happy marriage” because of all the good things she said about Harrison Conners on the plane. But the truth is her husband is “mean as hell” and she is not happy with him. Good thing Newt was there to ask, “See the cat? See the Cradle?” (179) making the connection to the difference between what is and what seems. Angela gets worked up about this sometimes and uses her clarinet to calm her down. She comes down one time to play and John is nervous at what he is going to hear because she didn’t seem like she’d be good at it. But as soon as she started to play, John “was flabbergasted”(181) at the music she could produce because she is very talented. There were many other obscured times Vonnegut uses the cat’s cradle as a metaphor in his novel, the metaphor being the difference between what seems and what is.
After John had performed Boko-maru with Mona, he told her she could not do it with anyone else. At this time – which was right after he agreed with Frank to become president – he felt as if he had power he didn’t actually have.
She was still on the floor, and I, now with my shoes and socks back on, was standing. I felt very tall, though I’m not very tall; and I felt very strong, though I’m not very strong; and I was a respectful stranger to my own voice. My voice had a metallic authority that was new. (208)
Although this sense of superiority didn’t last long, John seemed to turn into someone he wasn’t, just because he was given the title president. John himself became “a respectful stranger to [his] own voice”(208). He realized that even before he officially became president of San Lorenzo that he “was already starting to rule”(208). Also, the fact that John becomes president to be the voice of Frank is another reference back to the cat’s cradle. Frank says he and his father were “no good at facing the public” (198) which is the reason he asks John to be president. That way Frank could keep doing his science and John could share those ideas to the public. Frank also shared some history of him as a kid. Kids used to make fun of him, call him X-9 and didn’t think he did much but make “model airplanes and jerk off all
the time”(23). When really he was out at Jack’s Hobby Shop, “screwing Jack’s wife everyday”(201). San Lorenzo has a strange annual tradition called the “Day of the Hundred Martyrs to Democracy”(233) where they have fighter pilots fly by and drop bombs on targets.
These targets represent different people, for example, Hitler, Karl Marx, and “some old Jap”(229) and are made from “cardboard cutouts shaped like men”(229). This example perfectly shows people taking things and trying to make them into something completely different, like how the cat’s cradle came from a piece of string. There are many more examples like this in Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle, which is why using the cat’s cradle for what it symbolizes was such an appropriate theme for this
book. In Vonnegut’s novel, the cat’s cradle stands for much more than what it actually is. We humans add meaning to everything on this earth so we can better understand it because we have the power to ask “why?” There are two worlds people have to take into perspective: the world as it seems, and the world as it actually is. As you can see from Vonnegut’s book, it’s imperative people acknowledge the two, otherwise life can be very misleading and confusing.