Schrödinger's Cat Analysis

Ursula K. Le Guin’s Schrödinger’s Cat is a science fiction short story from her short story collection, The Compass Rose (1982). Schrödinger’s Cat begins with a narrator who does not identify by gender or name explaining the world in which he/she lives. A nearby couple is overheard having a breakup, yet in this unexplainable world, they mean it literally as the woman turns into a heap of body parts, with the man reduced to pieces hopping around. The most agonizing aspect of this world is that it is getting unbearably hot. Everything is hot, stoves that are not on, doorknobs, cars, even a child’s hair. Soon later, a cat walks up and to the narrator’s surprise, the cat is chilly. The story then jumps to a knock at the door with a mailman who is a dog named Rover. The dog recognizes the cat as Schrödinger’s Cat and is immediately excited and bubbly. The dog then leaves and returns with a box to perform the famous Schrödinger's great Gedankenexperiment. The cat then climbs into the box and the experiment is begun leading to the total uncertainty of its condition until the lid is opened. Ursula K. Le Guin’s Schrödinger’s Cat depicts the paradox between human egotism and the reality of …show more content…
Le Guin’s Schrödinger’s Cat illustrates the paradox between human arrogance and the reality of human naiveness. From the beginning of human exploration to the end of time, humans will continue to gain knowledge and with this knowledge, gain pretension. Thus, it is imperative for us to understand the purpose held in this short story. The purpose of which is: to explain the meekness of humanity in terms of the universe. That is to say, regardless of how much knowledge humanity attains, our total understanding of the environment is but a peephole into the complete perception of our universe. Humans will continue to lack an absolute comprehension of what is around them, but will slowly advance their knowledge of the world and with this, they will find more uncertainty and