In response to my thesis (which is about the function that lies serve):
I
think that what both Vonnegut and O'Brien were trying to get at in
their novels is this idea that lies and stories possess a certain
functionality. They can be cathartic or communicative, they can make
sense of the things that don't make sense, they can transfer raw
emotions and give us access to a new vantage point through which to
process the world. I believe that this last one is the most
important—or at least I believe that that is what Vonnegut and
O'Brien have made case for. The world is an invariably intimidating
and enigmatic place and often the truth (like that there is no
meaning of life, as Jonah finds out or that there is no way to
recover one's innocence once it has been lost, as O'Brien finds out)
is not something particularly easy to understand or to accept. It
seems to me that the truth is that star-shaped hole, that glistening
lake that you can circle around but can never find the words to
describe or the emotions to process. What lies do, however, is give a
person a lifeline, a rope just long enough to make the truth not seem
so immediate or so final. From this new vantage point, one is able to
face the truth, that incomprehensible thing, and either find a way to
accept it or to create a new “truth” to replace it. In The
Things They Carried, Tim makes the case for acceptance: he finds
that telling stories can double as a coping mechanism for keeping him
above the truth that he is unable to fully reconcile his past and his
present. On the contrary, Jonah's adherence to Bokononism even after
Bokonon admits that the religion is just a mark of “human
stupidity” shows that Cat's Cradle is more about inventing
the truth than it is about accepting it (Vonnegut 287).
I really appreciate you metaphor comparing lies to to a lifeline leading us toward the truth. Applying this to the writing of Vonnegut and O'Brien clarifies the intentions of the two authors in a manageable and practical thought process. I agree that O'Brien's writing is a journey to accepting truth, but I don't know if I'd apply the term "inventing truth" to describe the main idea in Cat's Cradle. I see why you would say that, but I believe that both stories are about accepting reality on some level.
ReplyDeleteYour last sentence is very thought provoking and I also think that Abigail raises an interesting point above. I do think one can argue that Cat's Cradle is more about inventing the truth than just accepting it but I would argue that it's about personally inventing truth for oneself but also accepting the lies to invent what is truth for that person as well. I think these two things come hand in hand.
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