Cat's Cradle

Plot:

Cat's Cradle is about a freelance writer named John who likes to be called Jonah. Throughout the book he attempts to write a novel named, The Day the World Ended. Jonah needs information about how the atomic bomb was created. Jonah also wants to figure out what the scientists are doing, when the atomic bomb was dropped onto Hiroshima. During his journey he sent a letter to Newton Hoenikker, the son of Felix Hoenikker, who later sends him a reply. Felix Hoenikker was a physicist who helped develop the bomb. Later, Jonah try's to meet Angela and Frank, Newton's siblings; this does not work out. Jonah then receives a job at Ilium, which was the location of where Felix worked. Having spoken to many people about the bomb, Jonah finally meets Asa Breed. She seems to appreciate Felix and his accomplishments, and she shares information about ice-nine; a substance which turns any liquid to a block of ice. Ice- nine was later given to Felix's children. During his trip to San Lorenzo Jonah also learns about Bokononism; a religion based on lies. There he met Frank Hoenikker, the successor of San Lorenzo, Mona Monzano (Jonah’s Crush), and the dictator of San Lorenzo, Papa. He also met Newton and Angela, who were invited to Frank's engagement with Mona. Frank did not really want to become the dictator of San Lorenzo, or marry Mona, so he decided to give that job to Jonah. Jonah agrees because his heart longed for Mona. Jonah and Frank decide to have a ceremony. Before the ceremony began, Papa was very sick and Frank gave him a dose of ice-nine, freezing Papa completely. During the ceremony, a plane crashed at the place papa’s corpse was located, and threw papa's body into the water. Since his body contained ice-nine, all the bodies of water froze destroying the world. Jonah, Mona, Newton, and a couple others somehow survive; however, Mona decides to commit suicide. After a couple of months Jonah meets Bokonon, the creator of Bokononism, and talks to him. 

 

Point of View: 

Cat's Cradle is written in first person, focusing on one individual throughout the entire book; this allows the reader to relate to the book. The novel focuses on Jonah’s opinion of how the world is ending, which in turn makes it a personal story. From time to time the novel will mention information the protagonist does not know; for example, Felix Hoenikker gave the ice-nine to all his children. In addition, all thoughts and feelings of other characters will be seen as indirect.

 

Conflict:

There is one major conflict in Cat's Cradle that is universal to all; it is the struggle between science and religion. This novel continuously describes how science provides people with the truth. Additionally, how science could destroy or improve the world, depending on whose opinion it is. While religion is seen as a lie that people blindly hold faith to. As a result, those two conflicts interact with one another erroneously, which ultimately leads to the end of the world. Ice-nine destroys the world during the religious ceremony. 

 

Imagery:

Bugs!!!

Throughout this novel there seemed to be an unusual amount of descriptive references in the novel regarding bugs.

1. "The bug tormentor, the middle child, the missing son". (18) (About Frank) 

2. "I squashed him like a bug". (88) (Crosby speaks)

3."What she had trapped like fossil beetles in amber". (78) 

It seems that all these references of bugs, depict the characteristics of these characters. In addition, the context never seems to be positive. Frank is characterized as a person who does not care about people, he would rather use them as experiments. The bug tormentor could describe how he enjoys experimenting on anything. Crosby has no feelings towards humans in the book, and uses them for his business. Again, beetles being trapped, is similar to a subject being experimented on or someone being squashed; they are all negative. The bug imagery describes people who have a lack of humanization, which is intriguing. 

 

Symbolism:

Bokononism - This religion symbolizes stupidity and peace of mind. For all who followed the religion, it gave them peace, even if they are aware of its lies. Bokononism represents the people who do not care about the truth, it depicts the people who want to live freely without worries. The islanders who follow Bokononism symbolize those who opposed the development of the nuclear bomb.

Ice-nine - this substance represented the people who seek the truth. They wanted peace of mind and happiness with the use of science. This could be related to the scientists who used the atomic bomb on Hiroshima to end the war.

Ants - At times ants symbolize people. “Ants could survive in a waterless world.” (183) The people had to survive in a waterless world at the end of the book. 

 

Setting:

There are two main settings in Cat's Cradle, Ilium and San Lorenzo. It is interesting that their ideals are opposite each other. Ilium is a city in New York occupied by Christians who also believe in science. On the other hand, San Lorenzo is an island in the Caribbean, whose people follow Bokononism. The people in Ilium seem to believe in science as well as religion; there was a balance between religion and science. In San Lorenzo, the people only follow a flawed religion and neglect science. Although, there were few like Angela, Frank, and Newton, which believed in science creating friction. These people end up causing ice-nine's ecological effect on earth. 

 

Foreshadowing:

“The experiment had solved in short order the mystery of how ants could survive in a waterless world.” (183) This quote foreshadowed the ending of the book. It is introducing how Frank made an ant farm and experimented on it. Through his observation he understood how ants survive without water. In short, the ants used ice-nine to their advantage and sacrificed half their population to produce dew. This description of the ants and a waterless world foreshadows the ending of the book. In the end, ice-nine froze all water on earth, and all the humans died.

 

Themes:

Religion and science are significant themes in the novel. In the book religion is seen as something moronic, solely intended for people to believe they have found peace with themselves. Throughout the book, religion is being mocked by Bokonon. Bokonon mocks religion with his own made up religion. Surprisingly, he has thousands of people following his religion. This demonstrates what religion is to people; although, most knew Bokononism is a lie, they continued to follow it blindly. They did that because it is an easy approach for them to attain peace of mind. On the other hand, science is seen as a polar opposite; it is the truth. Those who follow science rather than religion; for instance, Frank and Felix Hoenikker, seem to be riled up inside. They did not attain peace of mind in their scientific quest for truth. Ice-nine is the result of those who desire knowledge without balance. These two themes convey that there is no stability when an individual goes on a narrow path of only science or religion. In the book this leads to the eradication of world.  

 

Allusions:

Jonah- The first two lines of the book state, “Call me Jonah. My parents did, or nearly did. They called me John. Jonah – John - if I had been a Sam, I would have been a Jonah still, not because I have been unlucky for others, but because somebody or something has compelled me to be certain places at certain times, without fail." (5) The name Jonah alludes to biblical times. Jonah the prophet was supposed to go to Nineveh and tell the people to ask forgiveness from God. Jonah, however, decided to run away and not go. This did not go according to Jonah's plan and God ended up guiding Jonah to Nineveh. Jonah is seen like Jonah the prophet, he thinks he will be guided to his inevitable fate. 

A second illusion is seen in chapter 118, " "In the beginning, God created the earth, and he looked upon it in his cosmic loneliness" (174). These words were written in the first Book of Bokonon and are similar to the book of Genesis. In addition, the wording is similar, and it seems to be mocking religion. Bokonon is intended to be a religion full of lies, and the first book mentions this lie. This is intended to mock the creations of God in Genesis. Stating that God was not the creator of the world, and it is a lie for people to blindly follow happily and peacefully. 

 

Irony: 

There are many ironic events that take place in Cat's Cradle that add humor to the book. In the beginning of the book Jonah is introduced, and states that he wants to write a book titled, The Day the World Ended. This is ironic since the world does end.

Furthermore, the entire religion of Bokononism is ironic; it is based on lies. The creator of Bokononism does not hold faith to it, nor advise others to follow it. Yet, so many people follow Bokonon. 

Prior to hearing of Bokononism, Jonah continually hears of how Angela, Frank, and Newton despise the atomic bomb. Why do they not hate ice-nine?  The atomic bomb is diminutive in terms of destruction when compared to ice-nine. It is strange that Felix's children have parts of ice-nine, and they dislike the destruction caused by the atomic bomb. 

 

Satire:

Throughout the book Bokonon ridicules people who follow religion. He demonstrates the stupidity of people, by writing a text called Bokonon. Bokonon went so far as to state that if it pleases God for people to commit suicide, then they should do so.  When ice-nine froze the water, any survivors who believed in Bokonon killed themselves. Vonnegut uses Bokonon to expose people’s stupidity towards religion.