"O Little Town of Bethlehem"

Reading Cat’s Cradle for the first time, the excerpt from “O Little Town of Bethlehem” meant very little to me. However, since finishing the novel, the line “the hopes and fears of all the years are here with us tonight” (p. 47) takes on much more meaning both in immediate context and the context of the complete novel.

The Girl Pool’s caroling interrupts the discussion between Jonah and Dr. Breed concerning the development of ice-nine. Although Dr. Breed claims that ice-nine does not truly exist, we find that it actually does, and we realize the power that it has. Within the immediate context, the piece of the quote that seems especially relevant is the existence of hope. As Dr. Breed boasts about the research facility, and Dr. Hoenikker’s astounding scientific abilities, he describes how the government had attempted to take advantage of Dr. Hoenikker’s abilities in a search for power. The government hoped that through his research, they could have the ultimate tool. Ice-nine stimulated hope: that the nation would gain power, that the marines for example would never become stuck in mud, and it became a sign that science has no bounds; what we initially believe is impossible may in fact be possible, and that we can always increase our level of knowledge. According to Dr. Breed, “new knowledge is the most valuable commodity on earth…the richer we become,” (p. 41) which reflects hope in the vast possibilities of human achievement based on the discovery of ice-nine. The hope that is “here with us tonight” can then be taken literally; that ice-nine physically exists, and at that moment in the novel, we would expect to be hopeful about all of the scientific possibilities that it brings. However, Jonah’s response “had I been a Bokononist then, that statement would have made me howl” (p. 41) foreshadows that new knowledge, in particular ice-nine will not necessarily have positive outcomes.

If we analyze this song excerpt contextually for the whole novel, the piece about “fears of all the years” becomes the much more dominant half. We now know that ice-nine has the ability to end the world, and it nearly does. The existence of ice-nine on the day of the meeting also instills a great fear for the future. Today, the apocalypse often comes up in conversations or in novels, as a concept that we do not want to fathom because its mysteriousness is terrifying. We fear death and we fear the unknown, and ice-nine has the ability to cause both. We are frightened physically about what ice-nine can do to us, but we are also fearful of its psychological toll. We aren’t comfortable when we don’t understand things, (as we see everyday in class as we often frustratingly seek understanding) and the thought of ice-nine seems unbelievable. Since it is so difficult a concept to get a handle on, we fear what this lack of understanding might bring. So although the initial thought of ice-nine might bring hope for the knowledge of the future, when thoroughly considered, we see instead that this concept instills much more fear. We see this progression condensed as Dr. Breed explains ice-nine to Jonah, whose initial reaction is one of wonder and amazement, but after further consideration becomes fear about the terrifying power of the chip.

Also: I love the quote Dr. Hoenikker tells his children: “don’t be afraid to stretch your brains” (p. 247) because that is exactly what this book has challenged us to do!