Rationalizing the Irrational

In the midst of the both clashing and complementary worlds of science and religion, Newt’s work of art depicting a cat’s cradle provokes some thought regarding the human attraction towards the irrational, despite the constant search for the rational.

As seen in the story, Newt’s painting, like all works of art is subject to multiple, perhaps infinite interpretations. “It means whatever it means” (168) says Newt. Castle sees it as hell, which is perhaps a subtle comment on the troubling nature of the search to find meaning in things. Newt, on the other hand, associates it with the phrase “No damn cat, and no damn cradle” (166). This section suggests a similarity between art and religion in that both are subject to various opinions by people. People develop opinions on religion and perhaps follow a religion or religions based on their set of morals, beliefs, and hopes. Many appear to be brought to or from religion due to their upbringings. Similarly, opinions regarding music or movies or paintings may be developed, because of the way a person has been trained to view the world. 

From this one can draw that environment develops one’s tendencies towards certain views and habits. Sports fans for instance arise, because of the environment in which they reside. I, for instance, became a fan of the New York Rangers, because many of my friends followed hockey. Today, my emotions are strongly influenced by how well the team does. I wear Rangers T-shirts occasionally, much like I may wear a cross as a Catholic. Every time I watch a game or go to mass I don’t rationalize the reasons for doing so. I blindly follow the rules that I've created in my world. Why I follow these rules can be traced to my upbringing. I wash my hands, like I follow the Rangers, because these rules have been established and until I have reason to stop following them, I will continue to do so. In my world, they are truths.  

It seems then that everyone rationalizes the world around them in some way and yet acts irrationally so often (at least it seems so from the perspective of others). The rules that we establish for ourselves, whether what the color red is to us or what religion we follow, dictate how we respond emotionally to the events around us. If someone were to tell me that my blue is their red, I would disagree, knowing well that my kindergarten teacher and Crayola taught me otherwise. So the actions that seem rational in someone’s world may seem irrational in another. It seems that from this arises the search to distinguish truths and lies.

I apologize if this makes very little sense – I was just following a train of thought.

Take It With a Grain of Ice-Nine

Rather than discuss general themes as I analyze a section (or the entirety) of the book, I figure I will dedicate this post to doing something a little more innovative; I'm going to discuss my take on the book itself, rather than its contents. At this point, I am going to preemptively preface my post with a rather clichéd advisory comment in an effort to mitigate the fact that I very well may be way off base. So, take it with a grain of salt:

It is my firmly held belief that Cats Cradle is the seventh and final Book of Bokonon. On the first page of the book, ‘John/Jonah’ writes: "I began to [write] a book [that was] to be called The Day The World Ended" (chap. 1). In the final scene of the book, it is revealed that ‘Jonah/John’ sees Bokonon (which I will discuss in the next paragraph). During their encounter, Bokonon mentions that he is trying to write the last sentence for the final Book of Bokonon, at which point he hands to ‘Jonah/John’ a piece of paper that, among other things, discusses the need for there to be a book on the history of human stupidity. The idea here is that Bokonon wants Jonah/John to write and publish the book. The concluding, tie-it-all-together moment occurs in one of the last sentences in the book; a comment made by ‘Jonah/John’, “Here it is, the end of the world; and here I am…” (chap. 126)

My second speculation is that John/Jonah is in fact Bokonon himself and that he has created a religion that fits the behaviors of the people of San Lorenzo. Either the search for Hoenikker or the search for Ice-Nine, has taken such a toll upon his life that he has slowly gone “insane” or become schizophrenic, creating an alternative personality for himself (which is Bokonon). The meeting at the end of the book represents the “coming to terms” or ultimate unification he has with himself. Finally, he slowly but surely gives himself over to this alternative personality as he becomes (one with) Bokonon. He uses the religion of Bokononism to justify the eradicated behaviors of man that ultimately result in the end of the world. My guess would be that the other people and back-stories are correct, and so are the events (to some extent atleast) but that they are also vividly reinterpreted and subsequently conveyed to us as a result of the “lens” that John/Jonah/Bokonon sees the his existence through.

Perhaps, and humorously ironic, all of this is just a coincidental construct that I have made up. So, it is important to take all this with a grain of salt… or ice-nine.

The Purpose of Jonah's Story

The end of the book left me questioning what Jonah's "goal" for writing the book was. Throughout the book I wasn't sure what the purpose of the story was, if it wasn't a story about the day the atomic bomb was dropped. In the last chapter, Jonah comes across Bokonon sitting on the side of the road, and he asks Bokonon what he's thinking. Bokonon reveals his idea for the last sentence for The Books of Bokonon, which happen to conclude Cat's Cradle. This gives the reader the impression that after Jonah talked to Bokonon, he did exactly what Bokonon said, which means that the book Jonah is writing is a history of human stupidity. After he finished writing, he committed suicide by eating ice nine and mocking "You Know Who". So is the Jonah's purpose for the book to be a history of human stupidity? 

Another concept is that the point the book was the same from the beginning, which was a book about the end of the world. Jonah begins his book by saying his original intention was to write a book about the day the atomic bomb was dropped, titled The Day the World Ended. By the end of the book, it seems like he did write a book about the end of the world. The scene being described after the ice nine was released seemed post apocalyptic, with little signs of life-- essentially the end of the world.

The issue with these ideas is the fact that the pretext says the nothing in the book is true. But does that mean the pretext also isn't true? What the reader believes is and isn't true in Cat's Cradle depends on his interpretation of the story. 

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.