In the second half of Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle, there are many references
to Nazism. Vonnegut establishes his focus on the atom bomb; however, he touches
on a variation of the events which lead up to the dropping of the bomb. San
Lorenzo is similar to Germany during Hitler’s regime, but of course, less
severe. Vonnegut is making fun of Hitler’s twisted ideas of a “pure race” and his
form of leadership. The fact that anyone can be elected president of San
Lorenzo suggests a mockery of Hitler since the country was in such turmoil that
anyone who was strong, or “scientific” (146), in “Papa’s” words, would be able
to rule. Frank recommends such qualifications to make Jonah president as “a
worldly person, used to meeting the public […] your clothes [and] the way you
talk” (196). Hitler was a brilliant public speaker, who seduced the German
people to follow him. Jonah was able to be president because he had Frank’s backing.
I think this is Vonnegut’s way of explaining a truthful situation.
In Tuesday’s discussion, the topic of “the text as an
atom bomb” (Professor Schwartz) was brought up. I like this concept because
while reading the book, I felt as if my head were spinning. The metatextuality
of all the different books, woven into one is incredibly confusing. I knew I
was reading Cat’s Cradle, but in the
first sentence Jonah interrupts Vonnegut’s story and introduces his own.
Throughout the story, I wasn’t certain which book I was actually reading: Jonah’s
or Vonnegut’s. Since I was unable to confirm whose book I was reading, I wasn’t
sure whom to trust. When looking
back to the quote before the story starts, “nothing in this book is true”
(iii), it makes me wonder to which book Vonnegut is referring. Cat’s Cradle, if indeed that is the
book, makes use of historically relevant references which are further twisted
into unique and relatable prose. This shows that the author, Jonah or Vonnegut,
is truthfully lying.
"Truthfully lying" is definitely an apt description of Vonnegut's style all throughout Cat's Cradle. He creates these thick contradictions that just don't want to undo themselves. What I find so cool about this style is that, somehow, Vonnegut still finds a way to squeeze out these moments of profound truth. He makes it seem so easy.
ReplyDeleteThe historical references Vonnegut makes certainly did provide some sort of practical basis for my thoughts as I progressed through the book. The text heads in so many different directions and runs in so many circles that, for me, a lot of it became abstract. The parallels to Nazi Germany, however, constantly brought me back to the line between truth and lies, or truth and fiction. It was also nice to hear your opinion on the book's relevance to history, which we don't really focus on in class.
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