So what do we do with this? Do we keep believing in the lies and the illusion? Do we look to science and/or religion? Seeing as to how both science and religion came together at the end of the book to cause the day the world could have ended, it doesn't seem like a very good idea. I think the only thing we can do from here is keep an open mind. It's not wrong to stand up for what you believe in, but always consider the opposite side of the spectrum and the other perspective. One thing that is different from before, is our awareness and acknowledgement of the lies. Just like the San Lorenzans, we have chosen to believe in whatever we believe in despite the lies. Just as the book is never-ending, our illusions are also never-ending. In the end it is a never-ending cat's cradle with no cat and no cradle.
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Neverending Cat's Cradle
The ending of Cat's Cradle was definitely beyond what I had imagined. Who could have predicted that everyone would die from ice-nine and that the sky would turn into worms? Well, not me. Despite the bizarre ending, I found the book to be very profound. If I could choose one word or phrase to describe the ending, it would be "never-ending". By "never-ending", I mean it in the sense that the ending message continues and will continue to be relevant to our reality outside of the book. Although the epigraph of the book says that nothing in this book is true, meaningless is still meaning. Everything is an illusion. The book, the news and the facts are all an illusion. So how can we distinguish between that and reality? Because we are constantly asking this question, we can call the ending of Cat's Cradle never-ending. The things we can look to must be transparent, but even then we can never be completely sure.
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I think that as long as your life is being positively affected by the lie that you're consciously making an effort to believe, then no harm is being done. However, if the role was reversed and Bokononism brought complete and utter dread to lives of the citizens, but they practiced it anyway because they felt they had to for the sake of their community, then that would an issue. The idea that Bokononism is a lie almost tests how faithful they are to it, and how far they'll go to convince themselves that it's true.
ReplyDeleteI totally get your point about how the take-away from this novel was kind of the essence of a "never-ending" idea. I feel like Vonnegut just used the novel to throw all of us into an existential crisis, in a way.
ReplyDeleteSomething that a lot of people have been mentioning both in class and in comments/replies is the argument between science and religion and whether they were good or bad forces within the story line. From my realist point of view, it IS best to stand up for what you believe in, like you said, but it's almost important to not be blinded by it. The San Lorenzans were so infatuated with Bokononism that they completely disregarded their impoverished lifestyle. Choosing to believe in something, despite the lies, is the realist way of thinking, I think.