The Satire of Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle Essay

Use the guided analysis exercises within the lesson as a model for this part of the assignment.

1. Locate an example of satire. Copy and paste it here, making sure to note the source where you found it in a proper citation.

Other than satire, Vonnegut uses many apocalyptic allusions in Cat's Cradle. First, an apocalypse has to do with any universal or widespread destruction or disaster. Most often apocalypse is connected with the religious belief that there will be a Second Coming, and that it should bring hope to mankind. In Cat's Cradle, Vonnegut does a wonderful job alluding to an apocalypse, as well as mocking the belief that a Second Coming will bring great hope to mankind. He alludes to the apocalypse through his mention of fire and ice. As most readers know, this is alluding to Robert Frost's poem "Fire and Ice." However, it could also be seen through the mention of the atomic bomb that could have brought the world to destruction by fire, and of course to the

Most of the book was set on the island of San Lorenzo. Kurt Vonnegut did this so that he could create a new religion, Bokononism. Bokononism is a ridiculous religion, yet all the people of San Lorenzo put faith in it. It is not the truth of a religion that matters; it is the hope that you draw forth from it. A woman says, "I just have trouble understanding how truth, all by itself, could be enough for a person.

In Slaughterhouse Five, Vonnegut uses satire in the topics of war, aliens, fate and the reasons for life itself. In Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, the author uses many literary devices to bring across his point including black humor, irony, wit and sarcasm. He mainly uses satire throughout the book. Satire is a literary device found in works of literature that uses irony and humor to mock social convention, another work of art, or anything its author thinks ridiculous to make a point.

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

“How to poison the earth” by Linnea Saukko can be seen in two different aspects. The first one would be by looking at it in a literal way, in which it will make it a very harsh, inhumane and cold text. On the other hand, it could be seen as a satire, sarcastic and ironic text in which Saukko expects to catch the reader’s attention. Saukko exaggerates the sarcasm, and satire in her writing in order to make the readers realize and understand the main purpose of her essay, which is to warn readers about threats to the future of our planet.

True, the world isn’t perfect but it shouldn’t have to be. We are humans and we make mistakes. Sometimes we wish everything could be perfect but that may end up making it worse. We shouldn’t try to be perfect like Dr. Hitz thinks it should be. We should just be thankful for what we have now. In “2BRO2B,” Kurt Vonnegut uses characterization and internal conflict to stress the idea sometimes things aren’t as perfect as they seem.

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

The idea works and the religion spreads to almost every resident of San Lorenzo. The citizens of San Lorenzo stop their threats and are happy (Schatt 62). The Books of Bokonon are a satire of other religious texts because, as nearly everyone knows, most religions have some sort of holy text. Judaism has the Torah, Christianity has the Bible, Islam has the Koran, Hinduism has the Shrutí, etc. (Wilson). Who knows who wrote these religious scriptures and why? The Books of Bokonon was written for political gain (Schatt 62). Johnson, the author, becomes a crazy, disheveled, cynical, old man while he continues to write (Vonnegut 286-287). Maybe the Torah, Bible, Koran, and Shrutí are just some ancient man's way to influence and control the masses. The Books of Bokonon are just one way in which Vonnegut satirizes religious themes.

“Fate is a misconception, it's only a cover-up for the fact you don't have control over your own life.” –Anonymous. In Kurt Vonnegut’s novel, Slaughterhouse-five, an optometrist named Billy Pilgrim becomes unstuck in time uncontrollably and constantly travels between his past, present, and future. Since Pilgrim is unable to control his time warps, he is forced to re-live agonizing moments such as watching his wartime friend Edgar Derby executed for stealing or going through the Dresden bombing repeatedly. However, he is also able to visit pleasant moments like speaking as president in front of the Lions club or his honeymoon with his wife, Valencia. Vonnegut’s use of repetition and vision of war, time and death are crucial to Pilgrim as he

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.

     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

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,

Postmodernist Features in Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle Cat's Cradle is a book, which enables many points for literary discussions. One possible topic of them could be the postmodernist features in this book. In this examination Ihab Hassan's essay "Toward a Concept of Postmodernism" was used as a source of secondary literature for defining of postmodernist features. The most visible and prevalent features are postmodernist metonymy, treatment of the character, dynamic tension, anarchy and a postmodernist look at religion as a whole. To put Vonnegut's Cradle into a definite time span, let me start with a bit of personal data about the author.