The book I read was Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. A popular book about the fictional island of San Lorenzo and the destruction of life on earth; it explores deep religious and science ideas throughout the entire book. Although technically counted as a satire novel, some people consider a science fiction novel due to the “end of the world” aspect of it. I personally think that it is not a science fiction novel, since the end of the world is only used in the book to symbolize the destruction of humanity due to its stupidity. Vonnegut intends his books to be serious works exploring the human mind and making comments on its actions, not to be silly stories about aliens and the apocalypse.
A major theme of Cat’s Cradle is religion. At the start of the book, Vonnegut expresses a viewpoint that a lot people disagree with; that religion is a lie. The book states that religion is a made up
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story written by ordinary people.
I don’t think that Vonnegut is trying to change people’s viewpoints on religion, just trying to make them consider the point that religion might be essential to the human race. He’s saying that people need it in their everyday lives to feel the urge to keep going and to give them motivation to do well in their lives. By creating a world in his book where religion is founded on lies, it makes people consider how religion really affects their lives everyday. The narrator, John, says, “Anyone unable to understand how a useful religion can be founded on lies will not understand this book either.” This quote sums up Vonnegut’s opinion of religion pretty well. Any religion that motivates people to do good and give back is a good religion, no matter how many lies it tells about the world. I don’t know if I quite agree with this idea because all these people are doing this good with the idea that they’re going to get something back from God after they die, and this religion is lying to them and giving them false hope. And maybe the things these
people are doing for religion aren’t even things they enjoy. For example, I know the bible says that you have to wait to have sex until after marriage, and I know a lot of people follow this rule just because the bible says they should. They’re delaying things that they want to do-things that don’t harm anyone or anything- just for religion. I’m a big believer in that I should be able to do anything I want as long as it isn’t hurting anyone, and so based on this ideal I hold I disagree with the bible on the “sex after marriage” idea. If Vonnegut’s idea that religion is fake is true, I think its bad that all these people are not doing things they want to do just because of a bunch of lies. Another theme of Cat’s Cradle is science. The main character, John, believes in a religion called “bokonomism”, which preaches in the idea that there are people that you are destined to run into your entire life, and you are supposed to complete a goal with these people. Almost everyone is John’s group of people he runs into are related to a famous scientist who helped invent the atomic bomb. Many of the scientists that John meets seem to take the idea that scientists shouldn’t get any blame for making products such as the atomic bomb, the people should get the blame for using them as weapons of destruction. Cat’s Cradle seems to go for the idea that science should be held accountable for all the good and bad things that come out of it. I agree with this idea that Vonnegut presents, because once it is pointed out in the book its hard to ignore how true it is. When the atomic bomb went off in Japan, the scientists who invented it weren’t put under the public eye nearly as much as Harry Truman was. It is true that Truman is at a lot of fault for ordering the bomb to go off, but it is a rather interesting point that the person the public chose the focus on wasn’t anyone actually behind the making of the bomb. In both of the books by Vonnegut I read this summer, I find it funny how each of them have such strong anti-war messages hidden throughout. I believe these feelings stem from his imprisonment during the Dresden bombing, as his book Slaughterhouse Five was written on. In conclusion, Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut was a satirical book that explored intense themes of many different topics, including human stupidity, religion, and science to name a few.
Also I found it very interesting how it was illegal to practice Bokonism, yet everyone on the island, including Papa practices it. It's almost as if Vonnegut is trying to tell us how other religions are. . . and if any religion is a true and honest religion.
Throughout the novel Bless the Beasts and Children, by Glendon Swarthout, symbolism is used frequently to show a weakness in a character or to fulfill a purpose in the novel. The most apparent weaknesses in the bedwetters was their need for radios to help them sleep. The hats portrayed each characters personality and background in some cases. Also, The Box Canyon Boys Camp is in itself a symbol representing American society in general.
I think that the satire alone in Cat's Cradle is enough to encourage humanity to make a better world. Vonnegut makes things seem funny in the book that really are not funny in real life, such as an atom bomb, a father who ignores his child and everyone else, and an island where people are hung for practicing a certain religion. The book is amusing, but it made me think about what the world would be like if it really was that way. It would be horrible, and definitely nothing to laugh at.
...hurchgoers, it is Vonnegut's way of saying that we may be taking our concept of religion too far. Only MAN is sacred in Bokononism, and that may be an aspect left out of organized faith. We may only live once, and wasting our lives preparing for the one hereafter may be a phenomenal waste of time. In conclusion, while some of the events and ideas present in Cat's Cradle may register as ridiculous and just plain "weird," it is with these feelings that Vonnegut wished his readers to experience his novel. Only by creating extreme situations and extraordinary theories was Vonnegut able to reproduce the level of absurdity he felt towards society. When a novel simply denouncing God, America, and progress may have been shunned and ignored by the masses, the humorous and witty, yet bitter account of the end of the world present in Cat's Cradle was able to make an impact.
Kurt Vonnegut said in The Vonnegut Statement (1973), in an interview with Robert Scholes, that one of his reasons for writing is "to poison minds with humanity…to encourage them to make a better world" (107). This idea works quite well in Vonnegut's book, Cat's Cradle. It is a satirical story of a man's quest to write a book about the day the world ended (refering to the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima), which he never finishes. What we get is a raw look at humans trying desperately to find a sense of purpose in their lives through different means such as religion, science, etc.
Kurt Vonnegut’s book, Cat’s Cradle is a satirical comedy of a person who tries to write a book about the day the world ended, however, he never completes the book because he dies. Vonnegut uses John’s book as a means of ridiculing the individuals that he meets along his journey to completing the book. Cat’s Cradle is set in the fictional city of San Lorenzo where hope is only found in religion. Through the use of humour Vonnegut challenges conventional notions of religion and science while satirizing those that identify themselves with either group. Firstly, Vonnegut satirizes religion using Bokononism, a religion based on lies that is accepted by the people of San Lorenzo. Secondly, through crude black humour Vonnegut displays science as a detrimental factor to safety and real progress.
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut is a satire on the state of world affairs in the 1960's. Vonnegut made a commentary in this book on the tendency of humans to be warlike, belligerent, and shortsighted. The main character of the book, the narrator, is certainly not a protagonist, although the modern reader craves a hero in every story and the narrator in this one is the most likely candidate. Through the narrator's eyes, Vonnegut created a story of black humor ending in the destruction of the earth.
Kurt Vonnegut’s fictional novel “Cat’s Cradle”, indirectly explores issues that parallels into topics such as religion, scientific/technological advancements, political power and much more. Vonnegut’s novel is narrated by a character named Jonah (John). He, Jonah, sets out to write an anthropological book based off of what key people were doing on the day that the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Throughout Vonnegut’s novel it can clearly represents how a writer can become a very destructive person to society. As for this novel, it shows through the uses of parallels that a writer can become a very destructive person to society, these parallels are reflects to real world issues throughout his novel to show this claim, that a writer too can be a destructive person to society.
Cat's Cradle is, "Vonnegut's most highly praised novel. Filled with humor and unforgettable characters, this apocalyptic story tells of Earth's ultimate end, and presents a vision of the future that is both darkly fantastic and funny, as Vonnegut weaves a satirical commentary on modern man and his madness" (Barnes and Noble n.pag). In Cat's Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut uses satire as a vehicle for threatened self-destruction when he designs the government of San Lorenzo. In addition, the Bokonists practice of Boko-maru, and if the world is going to end in total self destruction and ruin, then people will die, no matter how good people are and what religion people believe.
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut was written in 1963. "It is a satirical commentary on modern man and his madness" (back cover). It is a book that counters almost every aspect of our society. As well as satire, Vonnegut also includes apocalyptic elements in this novel.
Religion is an important topic that is discussed frequently throughout Cat’s Cradle. The whole point of Vonnegut writing this book is to compare science with religion. In this book, there is a religion called Bokononism, which is a relig...
One of the most prevalent themes in Vonnegut’s works is religion. In the early pages of Cat’s Cradle, Vonnegut submits his contention that "a useful religion can be founded on lies (Vonnegut, Cats Cradle 16)," meaning that, fundamentally, religion is about people, not about faith or God. Reminiscent of Karl Marx’s description of religion as the "opiate of the masses," he describes all religions as mere collections of "harmless untruths" that help people cope with their lives. The Book of Bokonon in Cat's Cradle represents this portrait of religion at both its dreariest and its most uplifting, Bokononism is contradictory, paradoxical, and founded on lies; its followers are aware of this...
Dinaw Mengestu’s novel The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears is a story about an immigrant from Ethiopia named Sepha Stephanos that discovers the freedoms he travels to the United States for are not easily accessible and that sometimes you can lose yourself trying to figure out who you are. The passage that most clearly represents this notion comes as Stephanos is reflecting at the end of the novel, he says: “What was it my father used to say? A bird stuck between two branches gets bitten on both wings. I would like to add my own saying to the list now, Father: a man stuck between two worlds lives and dies alone. I have dangled and been suspended long enough” (Mengestu, 228). This paper will examine the metaphor of the two worlds Stephanos
Vonnegut reveals religion in the idea of morality and ethics in chapter 6, by using Lazzaro’s absurd notion of revenge. Lazzaro curses the Englishman who broke his arm, publicizing his concept of revenge, he says:
Science fiction is a genre of fiction that takes modern day reality and changes it to incorporate things like a futuristic setting and futuristic technology. It is often tied in with fantasy as fantasy does the same but instead of changing one thing, it changes almost everything. The novel 1984, written by George Orwell, is a science fiction book, but incorporates more elements of fantasy than normal science fiction stories. 1984 should be studied today because of the message it gives to readers about not following our leaders blindly. George Orwell is a pen name for Eric Blair. He named himself George Orwell during the publication of his book Down and Out in Paris because he didn’t want his family to be ashamed of him living as a vagrant in