When I first sat down to read Cat's Cradle I felt
apprehensive. Who wants to start reading a novel where the author is obviously
going to take advantage of them and then utterly confuse them until they sit in
a corner crying out of sheer confusion? But alas, I began and found that the
experience was actually one of fascination rather than pain. Though, what I
also found was that an author's greatest strength when writing lies is humor.
Humor is a reader's greatest enemy, not because it is not enjoyable, but
because it softens the reader. A joke lulls a reader into a sense of security
that cannot be afforded when dealing with a novel that is so blatantly messing
with our definition of the truth. Vonnegut, the expert that he is, weaves humor
in subtly and often enough that, at least in my case, it takes the edge off of
our senses.
Bokonon's
paraphrase was this:
'Pay no attention to Caesar. Caesar doesn't
have the slightest idea what's really going on.'" (Vonnegut, 101)
The aforementioned
quote is one that made me laugh. Just the bluntness of Bokonon's paraphrasing
had me shocked into chuckles. This is what is dangerous. The meaning of this
phrase goes far beyond a joke. When Bakonon and McCabe first set foot onto San
Lorenzo and first tried to set up a government they wanted to set up a
communist government where everyone got a piece of everything. Through his teachings,
Bakonon is reinforcing this by saying that Caesar should not get what is his,
but should be ignored and only given what is fair. Vonnegut's use of humor is
dark at times, like here, but it still
adds a layer of softness to the hard truths he is presenting. The main goal of
Vonnegut's writing is commentary on the world around him and on the nature of
truth, and no funny quips should prevent us from seeing this true purpose.
Sources:
Vonnegut, Kurt. Cat's Cradle. New York, NY: Delta Trade Paperbacks, 1998. Print.
The humor Vonnegut uses here reminds me of Joseph Heller's Catch 22. They both use this kind of dark humor while actually portraying a very serious message. Heller employs absurd, hilarious situations and twisted logic layered over the grave reality of war and death. This satirical humor not only provides comic relief, but also reinforces the serious message. The dark humor used by both Heller and Vonnegut points out flaws in society and shows the utter irrationality of the situations.
ReplyDeleteI agree, humor does play a great role in this novel. As you said, it takes the edge off the harshness of this novel, and keeps the mood light. However, his humor isn't laugh out loud funny. Rather, Vonnegut uses it to tell even more untruths but disguise them as jokes.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really good point. The humor that Vonnegut uses caught me a little off guard. From the beginning of the book, Vonnegut presents us with the narrator who is researching one of the most devastating events in history, yet a lot of the characters that the narrator encounters can be seen as somewhat comical and exaggerated in a way that seem to distract the reader from catching the lies within Vonnegut's writing.
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