Science And Technology In Cat's Cradle By Kurt Vonnegut

Satire, "the use of irony, sarcasm, or ridicule in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice or folly" (Webster 1193), is very prevalent in Cat's Cradle. Vonnegut hits on many aspects of human life with this satire. Government, religion, medicine, and business are just a few of these aspects. In focusing on government, Vonnegut shows us a leader ("Papa" Monzano), who attempts to create a utopia, but just like in

“Harrison Bergeron, “a short story by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., takes place in a totalitarian society where everyone is equal through handicaps forced on them by the government. Harrison, the main character, attempts to save the broken society, but ultimately fails to change anything. Vonnegut uses Harrison as a Christ figure in his novel ironically, to make a statement about our own society today and how we are blind to many political things happening around us. These ideas can be explored through analyzing Thomas Foster’s novel How to Read Literature like a Professor.

Kurt Vonnegut wrote during the postmodern literary period which breaks free from many ideas created in the modern period and describes the literature that follows World War two. This period is characterised with the technology becoming part of life,paradox,and fragmentation. Authors also hold true the idea that all stories have already been told and works of this era are new methods of telling them.(Klages np) These techniques are used throughout the short stories of Vonnegut’s “Welcome to the Monkey House” and influence can be seen due to his past in the military which may be seen through his storytelling.

It is a perfect example because the story takes place in an environment of integral conformity and describes a scene of pure deviance where Vonnegut’s disseminated strong messages. By analyzing Vonnegut’s short story with the help of both “The social animal” by Eliott Aronson and “Wayward Puritans” by Kai T. Erikson we will point all the wrong aspects of perfect conformity in a first paragraph. And, in a second paragraph, we will discuss more about the importance of deviance by analyzing the last scene.

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.

Technology today has advanced and impacted our way of living and the dependence on it has become a natural habit for our society. People today depend on their phones for numerous things such as, talking, messaging, driving directions, surfing the web or even to update their current Facebook status. Many people say that since they rely so heavily on technology, it has been known to weaken our society’s ability to open a book or newspaper to find information instead of looking at your phone. Technology has become a crutch for our generation today and without it we would fail. There have been inferences that technology will ruin us and lead us to extinction. In Ray Bradbury’s short story “There Will Come Soft Rains”, he purveys speculation that technology is the cause of downfall in society and that nature will outlast man’s creation.

An image in Cat's Cradle that proves how fear is used to control a population, is that of the hook in San Lorenzo. The hook, and fear of it, parallels the bomb's significance according to Carroll and Vonnegut. The hook is supposedly used in San Lorenzo to execute anyone who practices the illegal faith, Bokononism. Though everyone in San Lorenzo practices this faith, and the hook hasn't been used in many years, the fear that is stimulated by the hook

Through several years of technological advancements, we have become more associated and reliant on technology. In the short story “The Veldt”, Ray Bradbury describes two characters, Peter and Wendy, who are overindulged with material goods which causes them to lose their morals in life. An addiction to technology will cause relationships to disintegrate as one persistently attempts to secure technology for their own selfish fulfillment.

“All kinds of creative possibilities are made possible by science and technology which now constitute the slave of man, if man is not enslaved by it” as quoted by Jonas Salk during a speech about the technological advances in modern medicine in the 1950s. In the short stories by Ray Bradbury, he illustrates how the characters are struggling to live with the futuristic capabilities of technology. “The Pedestrian” focuses on a man named Leonard Mead who is the only person in society who does not use the technology in his home, his hobby is to walk. However, he is viewed as an outcast. “The Veldt” focuses on how George and Lydia Hadley figure out how their children’s nursery is powered by their mind and how they use it to have a tragic advantage over their parents in the end. While technology can let people connect to others much more efficiently, Ray Bradbury shows how the characters in his short stories “The Pedestrian” and “The Veldt” prove how technology is capable of isolating people from reality.

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 by Kurt Vonnegut is a satire on the state of world affairs in the 1960's. Vonnegut made a commentary in this book on the tendency of humans to be warlike, belligerent, and shortsighted. The main character of the book, the narrator, is certainly not a protagonist, although the modern reader craves a hero in every story and the narrator in this one is the most likely candidate. Through the narrator's eyes, Vonnegut created a story of black humor ending in the destruction of the earth.

    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.

<br>b. Vonnegut says in the novel "without literature a person dies either of putrescence of the heart or atrophy of the nervous system.

Sex is another element Vonnegut satirizes. Perhaps not to caution, but to reveal the twisted ways in which our current society treats sex. No doubt seen in every form of media and in every war, this theme can be found in Slaughterhouse-five and

Throughout his career, Kurt Vonnegut has used writing as a tool to convey penetrating messages and ominous warnings about our society. He skillfully combines vivid imagery with a distinctly satirical and anecdotal style to explore complex issues such as religion and war. Two of his most well known, and most gripping, novels that embody this subtle talent are Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse-Five. Both books represent Vonnegut’s genius for manipulating fiction to reveal glaring, disturbing and occasionally redemptive truths about human nature. On the surface, Cat’s Cradle and Slaughterhouse-Five are dramatically different novels, each with its own characters, symbols,