Cat's Cradle = Mind Game

Growing up I regularly played Cat’s cradle with my friends. It was simple and straightforward. However, Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Cat’s Cradle has altered my perception of the game. It is no longer an innocent game played among my friends but a convoluted game Vonnegut is playing with his reader. Vonnegut was World War II veteran tortured in a German camp, so his critical views of society and technology are reflected in his end image of the cat’s cradle. Vonnegut manipulates his readers to see the danger of technology and religion. Through the creation of ice-nine, Vonnegut shows how technology does more harm than good and through his creation of Bokonism he mocks religion. He selectively weaves his novel to portray his cat’s cradle.

Characters in the Cat’s Cradle are never static. Vonnegut first portrays Newt Hoenikker as a prominent character in knowing what had happened the day atomic bomb was dropped.  However by the end of the novel, Newt is revealed to be nothing more than a failure that lost ice nine for sex. Similarly, Vonnegut portrays the creation of ice nine by Felix Hoenikker as a military aid to help the troops wade through mud and swamp areas. By the end of the novel it is the most powerful weapon and has destroyed the existence of most mankind. Vonnegut shows these changes in his characters to manipulate his reader to show his perspective; if he directly attacked the issues without any backstory then he would lose his readers. By slowly bending the reader’s perspective he is able to make strong social criticism.

Likewise, he mocks religion through his creation of Bokonism. Bokonism is a religion based on white lies. Vonnegut introduces the idea that our initial impressions or beliefs may be built of falsity. However, his criticism of falsity implies he himself could be lying. Even though Vonnegut’s writing is a fiction, it has changed my perspective, I know it is a lie but in my head it has become part of a reality.