While I had originally thought Cat's Cradle was the Books of Bokonon, I am now entirely unsure. One would assume the Books would be the words of Bokonon, however at the beginning of chapter 92 this Jonah writes, "These are not Bokonon's words. They are mine." If everything this Jonah has written until this point is the Books of Bokonon, then does that make him Bokonon? It's hard to believe, but then again does it really matter if "Nothing in this book is true"? Chapter 110 is curiously titled "The Fourteenth Book". How can there be a fourteenth book if there are supposed to be only six? I have so many questions about the fundamental structure of the book that this Jonah created for us. What should I believe, or is it better not to believe anything?
This is all fiction written by Vonnegut, so I've also been questioning his motives behind confusing us so greatly. Mona's words on page 274 answer my question simply. Upon looking at all the people of San Lorenzo who had taken their own lives she said "It solves so much for so many..." Vonnegut's commentary on human belief and their need for explanations can often lead to dissatisfaction. Instead of being frustrated by not know fully who this Jonah is or what the message Vonnegut is trying to create, we should enjoy the thoughts it creates. This blog post is an example for all the different ideas and discussions sparked by one book. What do we choose to believe and why? In the Spanish language, when one "believes" something, but there is some uncertainty or doubt we use the subjunctive. A whole other tense is applied to statements of uncertainty, however in English there is no distinction between statements of truth and lie. Instead we need to choose what to believe.
I could not agree more with you questions. For a while I was convinced that Jonah was writing the Books of Bokonon, or at least telling us the story of how he wrote the books. Now am I unsure. After our class discussion I thought a lot about Vonnegut's game...we are all just playing along exactly like he intended. I think choosing to believe that it is all a game is the best way to go. We know the book is titled after a game, we played the game and now understand that it consists of taking Xs and converting them into more Xs, though there is no cat and no cradle. So maybe we just want to believe that there is a cat in that cradle, or even that it forms a cradle. But again, we are choosing to believe that.
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