Nothing I am about to write is true:
Secret Agent X-9, Ice-Nine and Asinine are three terms that sound very similar. Two of them appear in Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle, and for some reason they made me think of the third.
Vonnegut was a well known pacifist, and I think that the idea that Ice-Nine is asinine, meaning extremely stupid and foolish, is an example of his commentary on how certain advances in military technology went on to effect the world, specifically in the cases of dynamite and the atomic bomb.
Secret Agent X-9 is a name given to Frank Hoenikker by members of his high school class, and in the context of the interior of the book, at least up until page 148, means nothing. Why not B-7, or C-3? The same goes for Ice-Nine. Why is it the 9th version of ice that is so potent and dangerous? Although I am likely to be drawing lines that do not really exist, I think that Vonnegut chose these specific descriptors in order to draw the readers mind to a third word that they both sound similar to: asinine.
The idea that this new compound, Ice-Nine, is extremely stupid or foolish, seems to me like a commentary on the atomic bomb or of dynamite is because in all three cases, an advance in science that could lead to the betterment of the human race was used violently against it. In the case of dynamite, Alfred Nobel was interested primarily in advancing the technology that miners used in their jobs. When he watched as his invention was used to kill dozens of people at a time, it bothered him enough that he set up the Nobel Peace Prize. In the case of the nuclear bomb, a nuclear reaction could have been used to help bring clean energy, but it was instead used to kill hundreds thousands of people. And finally, in the case of the asinine Ice-Nine, the concept of an object that would turn all water it touched into ice with a melting point of one hundred and fourteen degrees Fahrenheit could quite easily bring a complete end to humankind, if improperly used.
Interesting correlation, Liam. I agree that ice-nine is rather foolish, but also think it does rhyme with asinine regardless of what your last sentence declares. However I highly doubt that the reason Vonnegut calls that substance ice-nine because it rhymes with asinine. I also agree that such a substance is asinine to create because of the devastation that may erupt if the substance, god forbid, winds up in the wrong hands. Do you suppose that Hoenikker created an "anti-venom" of sorts just in case such a scenario does arise? Hoenikker is depicted as a man lacking empathy that would not create an anti-ice-nine obligingly.
ReplyDeleteThe first sentence is "Nothing I am about to write is true." I'm honestly not sure what compelled me to throw those two sentences in there, other than the fact that it seemed like something Vonnegut would have done. For the most part, I did it because I have no idea whether or not I am right, so I might as well leave the choice up to you/everyone else.
ReplyDeleteI really like the asinine-ice nine comparison, and I think that there is a lot of value in analyzing the names of characters and objects in fiction, because the author has free will to name them whatever he wishes. Someone like Vonnegut seems sure to enjoy throwing in some hints/commentary as far as naming things goes. Something I noticed was the name McCabe as well as Mt. McCabe. Sounds a lot like Macabre don't you think? Disturbing and horrifying both seem to fit in well with the general, and with the mountain as we find out in the second half of the book.
ReplyDelete