If you have ever heard that 95% of every "just kidding" has a little bit of truth then can you believe in anything anyone tells you? Cat's Cradle from the very first page tells us that nothing in this book is true. Can you well believe it?
Kurt Vonnegut wrote a story that has no meaning and that's made up of lies. The characters go through this whole novel ,much like everyone goes through life, searching for that one soild answer to all their problems. The truth is no one has the answer to everything that happens. When Jonah is talking about the Book of Knowledge after every question he asks, "so what?" Why does it matter that the sky is blue and etc? Sometimes people live life tryng to figure out simple questios such as Frank and the ants. Do the ants really matter that much to you to wonder how they are the way that they are? For him to actually stop and ponder and get upset about this, but for what?
That seems to be a theme in Cat's Cradle. What's the point? A simple game such as cat's cradle makes Newt the way that he is. If he simple stopped and played the game with his father he might be a little more normal with his paintings. But I guess no one really knows what in life will affect them. If we believe in the fomas people tell us and it doesn't upset us or cause danger then is that all bad? Everyone thinks lying is a horrible thing to do but if you are not hurting anyone can that lie really mean that much to you? But again what's the point?
Personally I think Cat's Cradle is to show a person that in life knowing all the answers and all the truths about everything in the world doesn't really matter. It's a book about truth and lies and science and religion and no one knows what is the truth anymore. If people go through life wondering what the point of an ant ,is for example, what reason is behind that? No one knows why someone would be interested in ants that much but it can happen. But is there a point? If they told me that ants carry 100 times their body weight I would have to agree with them because I wouldn't know if it was a lie or the truth. Many may disagree but if something is not causing me any hurt or danger then does it really matter if someone tells me a lie?
The question this book left me was what was the point of this novel? Just to tell a good story about lies or was there an underlying meaning? I feel that this is a life leason that we need to always know the truth about everything when in reality what's the point?
I would agree with your point that the truth is very skewed in this book. I don't know which he is attacking, science or religion. He obviously points out the flaws in all, but I think essentially his point is that, as you said, there is no point to knowing the truth at all times. As much as you may think you know the truth, you really may not. To answer your question, however, I think the under lying meaning was that in some cases, the truth doesn't matter. These people of San Lorenzo all believed in lies and were perfectly happy, until their religion commanded them to kill themselves. The combination of religion and science proved lethal in the end, and that's the truth.
ReplyDeleteYou make an interesting point saying, “Kurt Vonnegut wrote a story that has no meaning and that's made up of lies.” Just because a story is created from lies, does that mean it is meaningless? I agree, Cat’s Cradle is comprised of lies, but I think it overflows with meaning. Just because something is a lie, does not make it un-meaningful. Cat’s Cradle teems with meaning; the meaning is simply metaphorical instead of factual. Through lies, Vonnegut says that depending on hard truths is bad for humanity; people need to have faith in things that are not concrete- like ideas.
ReplyDeleteYour opening statement made me go back and think about all the times when someone said to me "wow, you smell bad... hahaha JUST KIDDING!" and now I hate them.
ReplyDeleteAside from that, I thought this had really good points. There are some people in this world who are dedicating their lives to finding "the answer." The answer to anything that can give them meaning, give them hope. Yet in the end, why bother? We will all live, we will all love, and we will all die (yay for being morbid.) Sometimes I think we just need to sit back and accept that these things happen, because what's the point in questioning it all?
I'm not so sure that a book of lies translates into that book having "no meaning." But I liked the way you set up this post, constantly returning to ask the pivotal question of "what's the point." In fact, this very organization and repetition betrays your own desire to ferret out this very point!
ReplyDelete(Note: please proofread!)