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Cat’s Cradle: Bans Without Reason

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In Kurt Vonnegut’s eyes, America is being taught that some books and ideas are tantamount to diseases. As a consequence, the humorous, satirical novel Cat’s Cradle has been unjustly challenged in a few areas of the United States. The novel looks at the structures that curb our society, especially in religion and science, and contains an educational value that is paramount in correlation to its suggestive themes. Therefore, despite Cat’s Cradle’s minor suggestive content, including religious satire and mature themes, the book possesses important concepts that should not be overshadowed by these negligible reasons. It is puzzling how the novel received bans for such irrational conclusions.
Both of the parties behind the bans did not disclose much information on their reasoning. Other than their conjecture of the book being “completely sick” and “garbage”, assumptions can only be made for why they considered its banning. As stated before, the book contains small passages pertaining to either adult content or sensitive topics. Religious satire is seen throughout the novel as the book is centered on a fictional religion. The religion, called Bokonon, is an outlet for Kurt Vonnegut’s prospective of religion, specifically Christianity. He sometimes demonstrated the darker side of religion, and how people should be mindful of the power and influence it can have over them. For example, in the book, people of an isolated island “made a captive of the spurious holy man named Bokonon …
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