Cat’s Cradle is the most representative text of Vonnegut’s early years. The novel contains all his basic motifs and techniques, the quintessence of philosophy and style, and the pinnacle of verbal equilibrium. This unpretentious at first glance narrative has the features of confession and picaresque. Still, most of all, it is dark and mocking, in the spirit of Swift, the discourse on science and religion, faith and disbelief, meaning and nonsense. Concepts of science and religion have numerous lies in their essence, and realizing their immorality becomes the reason for understanding the collective responsibility for what is occurring in the world.
The environmental security issue is at the forefront of Kurt Vonnegut’s book. He introduces the motif of Felix Honecker, one of the creators of the atomic bomb. His invention had a melting point of 45.8 degrees Celsius, and as soon as one ice crystal touches water, it turns into ice-nine, and thus the end of all life comes (Vonnegut 32). Thus, the reader begins to comprehend the danger of what scientists do and that the lives of millions of people and all life on Earth can only depend on one person. It is essential to remind that the root of any artificial apocalypse is not in the destructive human inventions themselves but in the coldness that has shackled people’s souls.
The most frightening thing is how scientists, the engines of progress, are dispassionate and irresponsible about the world. For many, it is only a testing ground for their ingenious inventions: “Why should I play fictional games when there is so much real play in the world?” (Vonnegut 10). Honikker sat at home on the night of the bomb drop and played with a piece of rope, the weave he called “cat’s cradle.” It is a metaphor for a trap woven between science and technology. Man has for too long considered himself the supreme creature of nature, allowed to engage in unchecked violence against his kind and to destroy the planet. In the hands of one species are “toys” that are dangerous to billions of living beings.
Moreover, the author describes a religion called Bokonism. The essence of this belief is that it is entirely impossible to understand existence. Bokonists believe that humanity is divided into groups that do God’s will without knowing what they are doing. “Anyone unable to understand how a useful religion can be founded on lies will not understand this book either (Vonnegut 7).” With these lines from Bokonon’s book, the author expresses his attitude toward religion in general. Vonnegut believes that religion is a lie for the good of society and that it is necessary for people to build a just and happy community. On the one hand, this idea is rational, but it is gradually losing its relevance in the modern era. Religion was necessary at a time when people were ignorant and uneducated. However, now they need to get rid of the relics of the past and live a life conscious of what it takes to lead a sinless life, and then civilization will have a future.
Fundamental are other literary techniques with which the author enhances the effect of the need to awaken awareness. For example, Angela’s destiny is this unfolding metaphor: her husband is seduced not by her but by her position, her fortune (Vonnegut 36). By deceiving and stealing from Angela, leaving her in increasingly tragic loneliness, he symbolically plays the role of her ruthless motherland, shamelessly stealing from her gullible children under the guise of universal love and universal brotherhood. Angela, a faithful child of America, keeps insisting that all is well in her life. She behaves like the average American, accustomed to being proud of the country and seeing it as a bearer of truth, light, and progress, repeating these hardened clichĂ©s no matter what the government does on the international stage.
The author likewise uses the trick of foils, and another role in the novel is the image of Angela’s brother, Franklin Henniker. Each name in the story has a double meaning, reflecting some aspect of the character’s essence. Franklin is a name for America made famous by the great fighter for independence, the first president of the United States, Benjamin Franklin, and the name of another president, Franklin Roosevelt. Franklin is, by nature, incapable of taking responsibility and simply facing the truth. The fact that he becomes SanLorenzo’s minister of science and progress, elevated to the rank of major general, and invested with power does not only look like a parody of the government offices of modern right-wing dictatorships (Zins 174). There is a deeper meaning behind it: Benjamin Franklin mined in France for weapons for America’s rebellious struggle for freedom and independence. Franklin Honnicker possesses the most destructive and dangerous weapons that America, once liberated by Benjamin Franklin, gave to the world. Thus, a caricature is placed before the reader, turning the historical allusion inside out.
In conclusion, through literary devices, the author has demonstrated the fragility of the concepts of religion and science. Each character in the novel has experienced change, and these individual transformations lead to modifications not only in thousands of other minds but likewise in the life of society. People who do not seem responsible for anything become accountable for everything. This point is gradually becoming a characteristic of the genre of the modern philosophical novel, which raises the question of individual responsibility for what happens in the world.
Works Cited
Vonnegut, Kurt. Cat’s Cradle: A Novel. Dial Press, 2009.
Zins, Daniel L. “Rescuing Science from Technocracy:” Cat’s Cradle” and the Play of Apocalypse.” Science Fiction Studies, 1986, vol. 13, pp. 170-181.