Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s Cat's Cradle Essay

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.

"All the things I am about to tell you are shameless lies." So begins the Books of Bokonon. Bokononism is an original religion that is introduced in this book, Cats Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. The book shows the importance of religion, even if that religion is "shameless lies". It also displays how people convince themselves that things are better then they really are. I read this book because of a promise I made to my father. I'm glad I made that promise; I just read a delightfully funny and deep tale about the end of the world.

Vonnegut's Nihilistic Views Exposed in Cat's Cradle If humans strive to fulfill their void, of a lack of meaning in their lives, their folly will blind them from the truth. Kurt Vonnegut portrays his inner emotions and feelings of the insignificance of religion through the characters of his novel, Cat's Cradle. His satiric approach to a subject that many people base their daily existence upon, challenges the readers faith. As people search for a deeper meaning in their lives, the more confused they become.

In his novel, Cat’s Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut’s brings attention to humanity’s voracious desire to place meaning or purpose on life and he uses the characters of the novel to show different ways in which they go about fulfilling that need. The stylistic choices Vonnegut used to create this novel, such as the use of humor to both entertain and provoke thought, leads me to think that while Vonnegut has a passive sense of an “ultimate meaning to life”, he believes in a necessary universal morality. The quote “Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before” expresses the importance of believing and/ or committing to something that ensures growth. An established “meaning” or “purpose” of life

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.

In Cat’s Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut investigates the negative impacts that can result from humanities pursuit of knowledge through literary structure, irony, and symbolism. Kurt Vonnegut, well known for his pessimistic attitude and writing concerning the flaws of human nature, focuses this energy into Cat’s Cradle. Using satire interweaved with poetry, Vonnegut is successful in challenging the merits of human progress.

Through the years, many parents have read the children's book The Cat in the Hat to their kids. Written by Theodore Geisel, otherwise known as Dr. Seuss, The Cat in the Hat is a lively and wonderful book to read to children. No only that, but also it helps teach children about right and wrong through fun and exciting characters. But many kids and parents alike are missing a piece of the puzzle. Not only is The Cat in the Hat a fun-to-read children's book, but it is also a play on the Freudian psyche.

Edgar Allen Poe’s short story The Black Cat immerses the reader into the mind of a murdering alcoholic. Poe himself suffered from alcoholism and often showed erratic behavior with violent outburst. Poe is famous for his American Gothic horror tales such as the Tell-Tale Heart and the Fall of the House of Usher. “The Black Cat is Poe’s second psychological study of domestic violence and guilt. He added a new element to aid in evoking the dark side of the narrator, and that is the supernatural world.” (Womack). Poe uses many of the American Gothic characteristics such as emotional intensity, superstition, extremes in violence, the focus on a certain object and foreshadowing lead the reader through a series of events that are horrifying

One of the most reoccurring discussions on Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five seems to be on the meaning of the book. Straight into his

What is religion? There is no one correct answer, however, one definition that seems to cover every aspect of most established religions is, "…the most comprehensive and intensive manner of valuing known to human beings" (Pecorino). In Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, Vonnegut takes this definition and creates his own religion in order to satirize all others. Bokononism, Vonnegut's contrived religion, is built on foma, or harmless untruths. Bokononists believe that good societies can only be built by keeping a high tension between good and evil at all times, and that there is no such thing as absolute evil (Schatt 64). They have created their own language with words such as karass, a group of people

    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.

     Those who write on the human condition are often philosophers who write with convoluted language that few can understand. Kurt Vonnegut, however, focuses on the same questions, and provides his own personal answers with as much depth as that of the must educated philosopher. He avoids stilted language typical of philosophers, using shorter sentences, less complex vocabulary, humorous tangents, and outrageous stories to get his point across. With this style, Vonnegut presents the age-old question "How do we as humans live in this world?" in a manner appealing and understandable to the less educated mass. When offering advice to writers on how to write, Vonnegut said, "Our audience requires us

As an author, Kurt Vonnegut has received just about every kind of praise an author can receive: his works held the same sway over American philosophy as did those of Jack Kerouac or J.R.R. Tolkein; his writing has received acclaim from academics and the masses alike; and three of his books have been made into feature films. Society has permanently and noticeably been altered by his writing. Through accessible language and easily-understood themes, Vonnegut has created works subtle, engrossing, and familiar. His main method for doing this is by exploiting a theme with which everyone is familiar and about which everyone has his own opinion: religion.

Growing up we learn the importance of many different things. Of all these things, we have learned that being accepted into society, forming friendships, and loving someone are very important to us. In Kurt Vonnegut’s short story, “Who Am I This Time?';, we see through the experiences of Helene Shaw that by shutting ourselves off from others around us we can miss out on some of the most important things in life.

In season 5, episode 14, the episode titled: “The Cat’s in the Cradle”, it stars the main character Dwayne and his friend Ron, attending their school’s football game. In the beginning, it shows Dwayne nagging Ron about selling his tickets, due to him being confident in his school’s football team. While in the process of arguing, three white students from the opposing school happened to hear their conversation and insisted that their school was going to win, hearing this Ron decided to propose a bet and the opposing students agreed. This results in Dwayne attending the game alone, as Ron sits in his car and goes to sleep. As he wakes up, he hears the broadcast on his radio saying that Hillman won by 44-3, thus causing Ron to rejoice. As the three white students came back to deal with the bet, Ron then decided to insist that if their team had a few “brotha’s” on it, then they would’ve lost as bad as they would. Hearing this enraged the opposing students, asking Ron is he actually saying that whites can’t play as good as blacks. This results in the three white men to hold Ron down and spray paint the front of his car with the words “N” and “I”. At the same time, coming from the building Dwayne sees the fight and rushes to help Ron and the scene takes them inside jail. While in jail, the five characters, where then meet by sheriff (), who asks both parties to briefly explained what happened. When given the chance to do so, both parties decided to tell their story differently