Cat's Cradle Literary Analysis

Human fallibility at its finest: Vonnegut’s view of cataclysm
Putting the political agenda aside, Naomi Klein’s idea of a “long for that impossibly clean slate, which can be reached only through some kind of cataclysm” (Klein 21) does not hold true for Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut believes that man will never have a truly clean slate as we are inevitably flawed by our own stupidity. Cat’s Cradle is laid out on a bed of well spun lies, courtesy of Bokonon, which is really meant to serve as a mockery of mankind. In the end everyone dies and those who survive are normal, flawed people and Bokonon realizes its time to die. At the end of the day we are no better alive then dead, as the history is there yet we never learn. Dying is not taboo but really …show more content…
They seem to never be fully cognizant of their actions which leads to terrible consequences. Felix was too concerned with his scientific curiosity that he completely removed himself from familial responsibilities “when he couldn’t even bother to do anything when the best hearted, most beautiful woman in the word his own wide, was dying for lack of live and understanding” (Vonnegut 68). He was also created the atom bomb and had no idea of the repercussions and then created another way to end the world and started playing with it at his own home. He had no respect for life and death and this was passed on to his children. His kids are even more insufferable considering that they watched their father die, understand the power that ice nine is and yet still handle it irresponsibility, Newt “had a crystal of ice nine in a thermos bottle in his luggage, and did his miserable sister, while under us was God’s own amount of water, the Cariban Sea” (111). This is the ultimate form of carelessness and disrespect, the ice nine could literally end all life on earth if it fell into the ocean yet both siblings bring it along on their flight over a massive body of water. This plays to the whole idea of man’s inability to deal with the immense power that science has created. Ultimately, the Hoenikker’s handled their great power irresponsibly and it lead to the end of the world, a very avoidable …show more content…
Bokononism is used as a critic for the characters of the novel and the narrator consistently refers back to what is taught by this religion. Through Bokononism, the reader becomes aware of the critiques of society, for example ‘“write it all down’, Bokonon tells us. He is really telling us, of course. How futile it is to write or read histories. ‘Without accurate records of the past, how can men and women be expected to avoid making serious mistakes in the future’” (237)? As expected, this religious practice is rife with irony and cynicism and in reality is a statement about how man never is bound to repeat its mistakes. Essentially, everything that this religion preaches is a lie and that’s what makes it so powerful. It comes from a place of understanding that man itself is easily led astray, looking for anything to believe in and is easily manipulated. This parallels well with the “Shock Doctrine”, Bokononism is able to put man in this state of complete and utter reliance on the religion, “everybody on San Lorenzo is a devout Bokononist, the hy-u-o-ook-kuh notwithstanding” (172), thus completely vulnerable its dictation and associated punishment. This is the same as post catastrophe, everyone is devastated and in such a state of “psychological shock or paralysis” (Klein 16) that they become subject to whatever will is imposed. Free market capitalists hold as much power as