The Bokononists practice a religion
based off of lies. Vonnegut writes on page 172, “Truth was the enemy of the
people, because the truth was so terrible, so Bokonon made it his business to
provide the people with better and better lies.” These lies form a religion
that allows people to cope with the living conditions on San Lorenzo. Does that
mean that lies can sometimes be the better alternative to truth? It’s a difficult question to tackle. If covering up the truth makes you happier, maybe
that means it’s a good thing. On the other hand, are you just prolonging something
that will inevitably catch up with you? On page 179 Jonah discovers that
Angela’s husband is mean to her and he comments that from the way she
talked, he thought it was a happy marriage. Newt replies, “See the cat? See the
cradle?” Newt is referencing the game cat’s cradle, which is really just a
bunch of X’s of string. Similarly to the game, Angela made something out of
nothing. I’m inclined to believe that in Angela’s case, ignoring the problems
in her marriage may not have been the best solution. However, in the case of the game
and other instances in life, maybe little lies are more beneficial than
harmful.
I have never realized before, similarly
to the characters in Cat’s Cradle, that I use lies to “better” situations and
increase morale, on regular basis. I’m a
coxswain on our crew team, which means I am solely responsible for motivation
and mentally helping the rowers to (hopefully) win races. After years of
experiencing many different races, both good and bad, you develop some tricks.
I have discovered that with races that are not going well, the only way to
continue motivating the rowers is to just lie. By giving them hope and
encouragement, they are able to row much more successfully than if I told them
during a race “We are in last place. And we probably will never reach the boat
in front of us.” Just like this example, we can all probably think of certain
situations in our lives where we embrace the ideas of Bokononism and look for the
“cat and the cradle” in what is really just X’s of string.
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ReplyDeleteI like that you brought up the difference between telling white lies to make yourself feel better and living a lie that’s just going to catch up with you. Reading your post made me think of a conversation Jonah had with Miss Faust while visiting Dr. Hoenikker’s old laboratory. She tells Jonah, “I just have trouble understanding how truth, all by itself, could be enough for a person” (54). I think that Miss Faust was suggesting that scientific facts alone aren’t enough to keep anyone happy. We all need something to believe in. So I do think that sometimes lies are a better alternative to the truth, like you suggest, but I think things can get complicated when you live your whole life based off a lie. Angela lived her life believing Felix Hoenikker was a good father, then lived her life believing that her husband loved her. On the other hand, the islanders live their entire lives practicing a religion based off lies. The difference here is that the islanders believe in the lies so much so that these lies create their reality, and they are happier people because of that. On the other hand, no matter how much Angela tries to lie to herself, she knows that her husband doesn't love her and that her dad was not a good father. So I guess my answer to your question would be that lies are better than truths when they can actually improve our lives by taking away some of the pain that we would otherwise suffer.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you not only bring up a key element of Cat's Cradle, that is, whether lying can sometimes be a better alternative to the truth, but you also relate the story to a personal experience. Your post got me thinking about whether there are special circumstances when lying is the right thing to do. Even though some may make the argument that lying is disrespectful and never ok, I think that there are circumstances in which lying is the right thing to do. If telling a white lie protects someone from harm or preserves their feelings, then one should not hesitate to do so. For example, if a child who is a poor artist shows someone their work, only harm will be done if someone tells the child that their drawing is ugly. After all, Vonnegut makes it clear to his audience that our world is based on a solid foundation of deception and lies, but we believe those lies in order to sleep better at night and lead a happy life.
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