Sneaky.

Every word in Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle was carefully chosen; no one sentence means only one thing. From the prologue “Nothing in this book is true,” to “Call me Jonah” the first three words in the book, Vonnegut uses terms that allude to many more things than we could ever imagine. The levels of manipulation are determined by the knowledge you bring into the reading.

I did some research and found that Vonnegut based Dr. Hoenikker on a scientist named Irving Langmuir—a Nobel Prize winning scientist who happened to come up with the original idea of ice nine and who used to work at General Electric Research Company. This happens to be where Vonnegut used to work in the public relations department. There are many references to this company throughout the book, and ice-nine is one very big part of the story.

After analyzing page one of this book in class (and taking about two pages of notes), I came to the conclusion that nothing in this book is an accident and everything is carefully orchestrated to control how I feel, think and react. The first sentence: “Call me Jonah,” alludes to the bible and to Moby Dick. If you only know that it refers to the bible, you would read Jonah one way; if you only know that it refers to Moby Dick, you would read it another way; and if you know both, you look at it in yet another way. Maybe it refers to something completely different that I have absolutely no knowledge of. Each time you figure out a reference, you connect it to the story and all of a sudden it all makes more sense. Kind of.

Truth, Lies in Bokononism

At the end of Cat’s Cradle, most of the survivors on the island of San Lorenzo climb up to the upper reaches of Mount McCabe and poison themselves with ice-nine, as instructed by Bokonon himself. This stunning climax is the result of Bokononism’s central tenet: “ Live by the foma that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy.” This seemingly innocuous idea that is mentioned throughout the text, eventually compels the followers of Bokononism to participate in a mass suicide.

Cat’s Cradle begins with the central tenet of Bokononism, foreshadowing what is to be a major theme throughout the novel. The people of San Lorenzo are all secret Bokononists, and almost all live in terrible poverty and squalor. Bokononism is their sole source of hope, and the ritual of “Boko-maru” is their main source of pleasure. Living by these “harmless” untruths blinds the Bokonists to their horrific reality.

Through these ideas, Vonnegut supports the idea that religion is an “opiate of the masses,” a method to placate and control a population. Bokonon himself states that “he would never take his own advice, because he knew it would be worthless” (Vonnegut 273.) Bokonon tells his followers that God was trying to kill them, and that they should have “the good manners to die.” Here Bokononism transforms from simply an escape from reality to something serious and deadly. With this ending Vonnegut is making a statement about religion in general, and a warning to those who choose to follow it. Bokonon, representing religion itself, is a manipulator of the masses.

Also, here’s a cool song about ice-nine for anyone who cares: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyVWQH7jIg8

An Underprivileged Nation

San Lorenzo is described as an "underprivileged nation" with only one city. With a name like San Lorenzo, one might assume the island ought to be a beachy, balmy paradise instead of of "a sour mash of slop, feculence [full of fecal matter], and slime" (133). When first visited by Johnson and McCabe, they had high hopes of turning the impoverished nation into a utopia. This was described as an "idealistic phase." However, in San Lorenzo, "everybody was bound to fail,...for it was as unproductive as an equal area in the Sahara or the Polar Icecap" (133). Johnson and McCabe had "failed" and "'Papa' Monzano had failed too." Did "Papa" Monzano truly fail? As poverty-stricken, muddy, and crowded San Lorenzo is, the inhabitants are compelled and encouraged by Bokonism and it’s many promises. For some, it may indeed be a utopia.

The first "calypso" in the Book of Bokonism read (103):

"Papa" Monzano, he's so very bad,
But without bad "Papa" I would be so sad;
Because without "Papa's" badness,
Tell me, if you would,
How could wicked old Bokonon
Ever, look so good?


The juxtaposition between, good and evil in the first "calypso" is used to define them. A similar theme carries throughout the novel, not only of the comparison between good and evil, but between impoverished and utopia in the case of San Lorenzo, and between Christianity and Bokonism as religious backgrounds. How do we define something as good or bad without having something else to compare it to? We cannot simply say something is good or bad, better or worse, right or wrong, if we are trying to describe it by itself. Vonnegut calls attention to this comparison throughout his writing in Cat's Cradle, thus encouraging us as readers to ponder can something can be true by itself? Or is everything we think to be true contrasted with something we believe is a lie?

Call Me Jonah.

     Moby Dick is the story of a futile journey of a crew on a whaling vessel.  When Vonnegut starts his book with the pretext “Nothing in this book is true,” he sets up the reader to a similarly futile journey to figure out what is truth and what is not and, throughout, asks the reader to decide whether it matters.

     If we only believe things that we know for certain to be true, we may find ourselves not believing in very much.  True reality is objectified as the string in the cat’s cradle game; the same circular string can be morphed into and perceived as an infinite number of complex shapes.  If reality can be perceived at different times and by different people as so many different things, is there any one true form?

     The narrator has given up on his quest to figure this out.  He has taken up the Bokononist perspective to “Live by the foma that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy,” and asks the reader to determine whether or not he/she will do the same.  A search for the truth may result in the end of the world as we know it because we might find out that we don’t truly know anything about the world.

     In Moby Dick, we call Ahab a mad-man for chasing the whale; would we be just as insane for chasing the truth?

Constant Manipulation

Vonnegut is constantly manipulating his readers in Cat’s Cradle.  This book of his is Vonnegut’s own personal cat’s cradle.  Traditionally, a game based on manipulating shapes out of a piece of string with just one’s fingers, Vonnegut has turned his book into a manipulation of his own, substituting paper and words for string and fingers. Newt Hoenikker would repeatedly say, “No damn cat, and no damn cradle” (p.166) throughout the second half of the book.  In doing so, Newt is pointing out the lies exist everywhere.

            The entire book is made of lies, as the readers are told right from the get go in the pretext.  Even within the book, and through the lessons of Bokonon the reader is taught that fomas are essentially lies and important for people to have hope.  Vonnegut layers lies on top of lies to challenge the reader to find the truth in what he is writing.  Where the truth lies, I have yet to determine myself.  However, from reading the book I understand there is no cat and there is no cradle, meaning what I am told I am reading may not necessarily be what that.  Vonnegut has successfully manipulated me, and I assume plenty of other readers, into a whirlwind of confusion as I try to wrack my mind around the truth and untruth and actual meaning of his novel Cat’s Cradle.

Nothing in this book is true?

“Newt remained curled in the chair. He held out his puny hands as though a cat's cradle were strung between them. 'No wonder kids grow up crazy. A cat's cradle is nothing but a bunch of X's between somebody's hands, and little kids look and look and look at all those X's...'
'And?'
'No damn cat, and no damn cradle.” (pg 165-166)

            Just as Vonnegut tells us before he begins his story, “nothing in this book is true”.  As kids we are all taught how to play this game, cat’s cradle, and use our imagination to see something more than the crossing of yarn. Is it a lie if we can imagine it to be real? If I can picture those X’s as a cat’s cradle does it become the truth? Even though we know plenty of things in this world are false, we still believe in these lies to make sense of it all. In a place as impoverished as San Lorenzo, the people can all lead optimistic lives because of Bokononism. The hope that comes from these lies may be false but if it changes the way these people live their lives does it make it the truth?

            In this quotation, Newt is looking at the world in the way his father once had. The practical view of a cat’s cradle is simply X’s of yarn in your hands. The atomic bomb is simply a formula perfectly calculated to create a reaction. Human imagination, emotion, and morality are all about the lies we tell ourselves to create reality. Each page of this book may look like an X until you reach the end, close the book to its cover, and discover the bigger picture. Cat’s Cradle may have been real all along.

How Absurd!

           Cat's Cradle seems to have many messages embedded in the text, but since the disclaimer at the beginning of the book states that everything in the book is a lie, it is hard to tell whether or not these messages are Vonnegut's true beliefs.  There are two clear instances when the idea of Absurdism is presented, yet it is unclear whether or not Vonnegut agrees with these proclamations.  Absurdism is the belief that one must create one’s own meaning in a meaningless world.  As readers, we must impose our own meaning on these Bokononist excerpts.  On page 169, Castle evaluates Newt's painting and says, "So this is a picture of the meaninglessness of it all!"  He goes on to say, "Man is vile, and man makes nothing worth making, knows nothing worth knowing," (169).  This example shows that Castle thinks that the world is meaningless and what man learns is not truly meaningful because everything he knows is not “worth knowing.”  Castle’s believes that people have the wrong idea of meaning, which is his own meaning that he has crafted. 

Jonah, the narrator, reads a passage from The First Book of Bokonon, which discusses God's creation of the earth and of Man.  The passage reads, "Man blinked.  'What is the purpose of all this?' he asked politely.  'Everything must have a purpose?' asked God.  'Certainly,' said man.  'Then I leave it to you to think of one for all this,' said God,” (265).  While this passage shows that Man created meaning for the world instead of God, the beginning of this passage says that this book is nothing but lies, and Jonah states after reading this passage that he does not think any of this is true.  This conflict between beliefs throughout the novel makes the reader wonder what is true and what is not true, but it also gives the reader some liberty in deciding for themselves what they believe in and what is meaningful in this book.  Are these messages Vonnegut’s true beliefs?  Does it matter if these messages are labeled as lies?

Cat's Cradle = Mind Game

Growing up I regularly played Cat’s cradle with my friends. It was simple and straightforward. However, Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Cat’s Cradle has altered my perception of the game. It is no longer an innocent game played among my friends but a convoluted game Vonnegut is playing with his reader. Vonnegut was World War II veteran tortured in a German camp, so his critical views of society and technology are reflected in his end image of the cat’s cradle. Vonnegut manipulates his readers to see the danger of technology and religion. Through the creation of ice-nine, Vonnegut shows how technology does more harm than good and through his creation of Bokonism he mocks religion. He selectively weaves his novel to portray his cat’s cradle.

Characters in the Cat’s Cradle are never static. Vonnegut first portrays Newt Hoenikker as a prominent character in knowing what had happened the day atomic bomb was dropped.  However by the end of the novel, Newt is revealed to be nothing more than a failure that lost ice nine for sex. Similarly, Vonnegut portrays the creation of ice nine by Felix Hoenikker as a military aid to help the troops wade through mud and swamp areas. By the end of the novel it is the most powerful weapon and has destroyed the existence of most mankind. Vonnegut shows these changes in his characters to manipulate his reader to show his perspective; if he directly attacked the issues without any backstory then he would lose his readers. By slowly bending the reader’s perspective he is able to make strong social criticism.

Likewise, he mocks religion through his creation of Bokonism. Bokonism is a religion based on white lies. Vonnegut introduces the idea that our initial impressions or beliefs may be built of falsity. However, his criticism of falsity implies he himself could be lying. Even though Vonnegut’s writing is a fiction, it has changed my perspective, I know it is a lie but in my head it has become part of a reality. 

Busy, busy, busy.

Vonnegut seems to be constantly reminding the readers of Cat's Cradle of the inevitable power of the writer. The protagonist is one himself, and as he is writing his own novel, I can't help but wonder if his work reflects the 'truth' of what we have been told by Vonnegut in his version of the story. This mystery is what brings us back to the fact that Vonnegut can tell us whatever he pleases, and that the difference between his account and his character's is irrelevant since none of it actually happened. This leads me to question the sources of information I receive in my day-to-day life as well. Even if a particular person witnesses an event and describes the story to me, I have to take into account that they have biases and experiences that shape how they interpret the event. But I am no exception to that, seeing as if I had been present at the same event, there is no telling how differently or similarly I may internalize it. If I were a survivor of the end of the world, my book might have been entirely different than Jonah's, Sam's, or Vonnegut's.

Constant State of Childhood

What makes a man “a man?”  When, if ever, do we grow from children into adults?  Ambassador Minton presents the idea during his speech to honor the Hundred Martyrs to Democracy that perhaps a child is never really “a man” except when he dies for his country.  Or at least society refers to him as “a man”.  Minton argues on page 254 “they are murdered children all the same.”  As children, we see the world as an endless possibility.  We don’t know where we will end up, but we believe it will be purposeful and fulfilling.  Minton says, “we might best spend the day despising what killed them [the children]; which is to say, the stupidity and viciousness of all mankind. (254).”  Thus, maybe Minton is referring to the fact that until we truly understand how pointless and brutal the world is, which is showcased during war, we are still children at heart.  It seems The Books of Bokonon perpetuate this thought as well because the entire Bokonon religion is based on people telling themselves white lies.  The pretext of Cat’s Cradle shows the quote from The Books of Bokonon: “Live by the foma that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy”.  If we, like the Bokononists, live our lives believing that life is purposeful and safe and happy, even when we know there are wars and destruction and ignorance in the world, are we basically living in a constant state of childhood?  And is this constant denial of the world necessary to our surviving it, as Bokonon suggests?