Nothing in this book is true?

“Newt remained curled in the chair. He held out his puny hands as though a cat's cradle were strung between them. 'No wonder kids grow up crazy. A cat's cradle is nothing but a bunch of X's between somebody's hands, and little kids look and look and look at all those X's...'
'And?'
'No damn cat, and no damn cradle.” (pg 165-166)

            Just as Vonnegut tells us before he begins his story, “nothing in this book is true”.  As kids we are all taught how to play this game, cat’s cradle, and use our imagination to see something more than the crossing of yarn. Is it a lie if we can imagine it to be real? If I can picture those X’s as a cat’s cradle does it become the truth? Even though we know plenty of things in this world are false, we still believe in these lies to make sense of it all. In a place as impoverished as San Lorenzo, the people can all lead optimistic lives because of Bokononism. The hope that comes from these lies may be false but if it changes the way these people live their lives does it make it the truth?

            In this quotation, Newt is looking at the world in the way his father once had. The practical view of a cat’s cradle is simply X’s of yarn in your hands. The atomic bomb is simply a formula perfectly calculated to create a reaction. Human imagination, emotion, and morality are all about the lies we tell ourselves to create reality. Each page of this book may look like an X until you reach the end, close the book to its cover, and discover the bigger picture. Cat’s Cradle may have been real all along.