Folly of Trying to Understanding Lies

After watching and talking about the episode of Supernatural, I became very aware of the framed narrative and the strong presence of the narrator. As I began reading Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle,  I was conscious of the idea of this meta-narrative. From the very first page, the narrator is very open with the reader. The narrator develops a relationship with the reader right away, by telling us to call him Jonah. He, then, starts to talk about a book he wrote called The Day the World Ended, noting that, "the book was to be factual. The book was to be an account of what important Americans had done ... It was to be a Christian book" (Vonnegut, 1). For some reason, the repeated emphasis of what the book "was" supposed to be reminded me of what was supposed to happen to the two brothers, Dean and Sam.

Many things that Jonah confesses to in the beginning of Cat's Cradle made me suspicious about what type of narrator he was going to be. Another line that stood out to me was when Jonah talked about, "the folly of pretending to discover, to understand" in the section of The Books of Bokonon (4). Although it is probably not directed to us, it sounded as if Jonah was saying it would be stupid if we tried to understand what he was about to tell us. Because Jonah is so open and straightforward about his intentions for this book, it gives the reader comfort to read on and semi-trust the narrator. Even though he begins the book by admitting that, "All of the true things I am about to tell you are shameless lies," the stories he tells us do not seem so implausible (5).

As I kept reading, I started to read for the story. I did not continue to be skeptical of the narrator and was merely reading for the story-line or the plot. So far, there have been many events that have relied too much on coincidence. It would be very difficult to travel from place to place and always encounter someone who is connected with Felix. Although there are many instances where I can feel that the narrator is lying or that the story is not true, I have not been shocked or surprised like I have with An Occurrence on Owl Creek Bridge or Supernatural. I feel as if I am just waiting to be proven a fool by Jonah, who has clearly told us that everything he is going to tell us is a lie.