Analysis of Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

During the year of 1947, the author Kurt Vonnegut shelved his thesis on the behavioural
patterns of human beings – the study of anthropoplogy. It was not until 1971 that he received
his masters degree on the subject – all because of his novel Cat’s Cradle. First released in
1963, the book is about a man named John, preferring to be called Jonah, and his journey on
writing a book about what important Americans were doing during the bombing of
Hiroshima. He tries to obtain information about one of the co-inventers of the atom bomb, the
fictional character Dr. Felix Hoenikker, by writing to his three children Angela, Franklin
and the short statured Newton.
By speaking to one of Felix’ coworkers, Dr. Asa Breed, he discovers the eventual existance
of a substance called ice-nine. Dr. Breed floated the idea that Felix was special in the way he
tackled problems. He did not care for money or fame, only for challenges that intrigued him.
Old or new, he always thought of interesting solutions - one of one of which was ice-nine. Its
existance came about after the military contacted him concerning mud’s negative impact on
warfare. They wanted a method to avoid the soldier’s feet sticking to the ground, making for a
slight handicap. His solution – an isotope of water, solid at room temperature, but in contact
with any liquid, working as a “seed crystal”, making every other particle in that body copy the
traits of the substance. The effect is an entirely frozen body from one piece of ice-nine. In
contact with a mucous membrane it would kill the person in an instant. Ice-nine’s existance
was not confirmed by Dr. Breed, he saw it merely as an idea, but John insisted on its presence
in the world.
Later on, John ends up on a flight going towards a ficticious island in the Caribbean, San
Lorenzo – a dictatorship with some thousand citizens all speaking a barely comprehensible
version of English. The crime rates were far below average, but only because of the single
punishment for law violations – the hook, or as the San Lorenzians call it: the hy-u-o-ook-
kuh. People who failed to abide by the law were to be impaled by a hook, left to die in agony.
On-board he meets H. Lowe Crosby, his wife Hazel, and the Minton couple, Horlick and
Claire, the former being the new American ambassador of San Lorenzo.
On the island rules the dying president “Papa” Monzano. He intends to name Franklin his
successor, but through Frank’s resistance to social occassions, he, in turn, passes it on to John.
Uncertain at first, he accepts eagerly once he is promised the love of his life in return, Mona.
Following the event, a ceremony announcing San Lorenzo’s new leader is to take place.
During the gathering, “Papa”, not wanting to die of sickness, commits suicide in a peculiar
way. Confirming its existance, he got hold of ice-nine and, with fingers having touched the
substance, taps his lips. The body is found completely frozen with a tin of ice-nine on his
abdomen and his hand close to his mouth. Among the finders of the corpse was Dr.
Schlichter von Koeningswald, a former Nazi who, feeling remorse because of his death
count of Jews and cripples, tried to make up for his deeds by healing people at a charity
hospital. He too dies of ice-nine while investigating the scene.
The hosts had planned an aeronautical display, only to be victims of an international
apocalypse. One of the planes malfunctioned, crashed into the place where “Papa” lay,
resulting in his body falling down, coming into contact with the sea, and freezing the entire
world. Left were only John and a few of his comrades, their deaths, soon followed withing a
period of months. The novel ends with John spotting a person named Bokonon writing the last
passage of his book.

Unnessecary, Yet Mildly Interesting Information

Cat’s Cradle sports very short chapters, often limited to one or two pages. For some reason,
the novel also uses single quotation marks in place of double, and vice versa – making for a
more difficult time reading. Furthermore, several words written are seldomly used nowdays,
including, but not limited to: “wanly”, “twangingly”, “incredulously” and “mawkishly”.

World View
Throughout the unpredictable plot, ‘tis not merely the story that makes for the masterpiece
that is Cat’s Cradle; John’s narration, systematic and nihilistic, plays a major part. In the
beginning, our main character belongs to the belief of Christianity. His philosophy changes
however, after he had been exposed to the religion of San Lorenzo, officially Christianity, but
in actuality Bokononism. As the name suggests, it was the aforementioned Bokonon who
created the belief, and he did so with a very specific intent. San Lorenzo was a poor nation,
not only regarding its economy, but likewise the wellbeing of its inhabitants. The religion was
created with the purpose to undermine the unpleasent truths of reality and conceal them with
plenty of more bearable lies. Bokonon happens to be one of two establishers of the island.
Only to give the religion a more excititing appeal, he made his co-founder outlaw the religion.
As with all other illegall deeds, practicing Bokononism would be punished with the hook, yet
almost everyone practiced it, including “Papa”, and few were ever executed.

Bokononism
The religion of Bokonoism is based upon The Books of Bokonon. The books open by stating
“Don't be a fool! Close this book at once! It is nothing but foma [harmless untruths]!” Not
long after the original statement, it says: “Live by the foma that make you brave and kind and
healthy and happy.” The religion wants its members to ignore reality and live life in pursuit of
happiness. Bokononism also has its own terminology to describe certain aspects of life. For
example:
 Karass – a group of people somehow connected, destined to achieve a shared goal
 Granfalloon – a false karass, for example Hoosiers – people from Inianapolis
 Boko-maru – a ritual where two people make contact with their bare feet, intended to
provide a joyous feeling
And also several ways of communicating ideas:
 Busy, busy, busy – whispered when Bokononist think about the complicated and
unpredictable nature of life
 Now I will destroy the whole world – uttered before a Bokononist commits suicide
Among the many books, the fourteenth is the most obviously cynical. Titled “What Can a
Thoughtful Man Hope for Mankind on Earth, Given the Experience of the Past Million
Years?”, it is composed of only one word: “Nothing.”
Narration
The novel is, inside of Cat’s Cradle’s universe, written by John. He writes it during the
apocolypse to document history – a very Bokononist thing to do. And those words, “a very
Bokononist thing to do”, among other Bokononist statements, echo throughout the book’s
entirety. Although John was a Christian in the beginning of the story, when he worked on
Cat’s Cradle, he had converted to Bokononism. All the events that had taken place are
therefore reflected upon from a Bokononist perspective. This has a very comical effect, as the
religion was built on very cynical beliefs. John’s analysis of the on-goings surrounding him
therefore seem very out of place while simultaniously humourus. For example, onboard the
plane towards San Lorenzo, H. Lowe Crosby tries to explain to the “midget” Newt and John
what the term “pissant” means.
“’I don’t mean a little feller like this.’ Crosby hung a ham hand on Newt’s shoulder. ‘It isn’t
size that makes a man a pissant. It’s the way he thinks. I’ve seen men four times as big as this
little feller here, and they were pissants. And I’ve seen little fellers – well, not this little
actually, but pretty damn little, by God – and I’d call them real men.’
‘Thanks,’ said Newt pleasantly, not even glancing at the monstrous hand on his shoulder.
Never had I seen a human being better adjusted to such a humiliating physical handicap. I
shuddered with admiration.”
Another example, more related to the religion of Bokononism, is when John returns home
after having lent out his apartment to a human in need. Little did he know, the person in
question was a nihilist, in turn making him trash John’s entire flat, this includes killing his
beloved cat. Instead of being severely devastated, a sound emotion, regarding the
circumstances, he saw the nihilist as a wrang-wrang. This, according to Bokononism, is
something, a person or an event, that steers a person away from a destination. In this case, it
led him away from nihilism due to his witnessing its possible destructive properties.
Cat’s Cradle’s timeline is in chronological order, however, the religion is often referenced
with certain passages from The Books of Bokonon. This is to illustrate John’s viewpoint as he
himself is a Bokononist.

Characters
Cat’s Cradle is riddled with well-developed and believable characters. They all act according
to their personalities and all have interesting character traits. For example, Mrs. Hazel – a
Hoosier. As previously mentioned, being born in a certain state does not make for a karass.
Instead, it counts as a granfalloon – something John insists on. Hazel, a very kind and
emotional woman, lives in this false state of mind where being a Hoosier is a trait worthy of
expression. She often recalls all the successful people from Indianapolis, thinking she has an
extra chance of achieving greatness. All the other Hoosiers she stumbles upon are asked to
call her “Mom” – for some unclear reason.
Another instance is the white-haired Minton couple – in a way, quite obnoxious, living in
their own world of self-convinced superiority. The Mintons fit so well together, always
seeking confirmation from one another. “They entertained each other endlessly with little
gifts: sights worth seeing out the plane window, amusing or instructive bits from things they
read, random recollections of times gone by.” John sees them as a perfect instance of a
duprass – a karass only composed of two people. He tries to make conversation with them,
but their answers always suggested them looking down at him for asking “fat-headed”
questions. Bokononism also remarks that the members of a duprass always die within a week
of each other – the Mintons died within the same second.
John himself goes through big changes throughout the progression of the story. In the
beginning he is clueless as to what to do with his life. On the plane towards San Lorenzo he
expresses his love for a woman from a magazine cover, Mona, to be a “tremendous force in
[his] meaningless life”. He goes from writing a book to becoming president in a dictatorship
only to, once more, write a book. Bokononism changes his life drastically. He discovers a
whole new way to view the world and, in doing so, both worsen and better his condition. The
religion’s systematically nihilistic ways of life both makes him view tragedies as just another
passing, but simultaneously deprives him of some happiness.

Dialogue
The interactions between the characters are often snappy and humorous. Their dialogues
always pertain to a certain realistic flow, clustered with short replies. An example is when a
person is making an artwork of Mona – John approaches him to ask some questions:
“’Has she been posing for this or are you working from photographs or what?’
‘I’m working from or what.’
‘What?’
‘I’m working from or what.’ He tapped his temple. ‘It’s all in this enviable head of mine.’
‘You know her?’
‘That happiness is mine.’
‘Frank Hoenikker’s a lucky man.’ [Mona is his wife.]
‘Frank Hoenikker is a piece of shit.’
‘You’re certainly candid.’
‘I’m also rich.’
‘Glad to hear it.’
‘If you want an expert opinion, money doesn’t necessarily make people happy.’
‘Thanks for the information. You’ve just saved me a lot of trouble. I was just about to make
some money.’
‘How?’
‘Writing.’
Theme
Kurt Vonnegut’s use of dark humour might seem like a mere device to entertain the reader,
however, underlying are several major themes, touching upon some interesting topics.

The Hoenikkers’ Innocence

Felix and his children, Angela, Frank and Newt play a major part in the story – the father is
also responsible for the apocalyptic ending. As mentioned earlier, Felix tackles problems like
none other. His disinterest for often valued parts in life extends to more than money and fame
– he does not really care for anything. This is one of his pitfalls, his seemingly innocent
interest in science does not take into account for the atrocities his creations can cause. Surely
he was aware of the devastations ice-nine could inflict, he just did not care.
His three children, all having received a dose of the substance before Felix’s unfortunate
death, are not to blame for Earth’s destruction – however, they, excluding Frank, are not
innocent. The children had no evil intentions, they were all in pursuit of happiness, never
seeking to make the world a worse place. It was through this “greed” however, that both the
USA and Russia ended up obtaining ice-nine. Both Angela and Newt were deceived by love,
one giving the weapon away, the other being careless enough to date a Russian spy.
Granted, neither Angela nor Newt was responsible for the apocalypse – it was the plane crash
– their ignorant behaviour still resulted in two superpowers obtaining the deadliest weapon on
earth. Disturbingly so, ice-nine is not needed for our own world to result in death. The means
necessary for that conclusion are present at this very moment, held by powerful military
forces. They have the ability to, at any point in time, destroy civilization as we know it. The
Hoenikkers’ actions illustrate how fragile life really is, how easily it can be eliminated
through simple actions, evil or not. Human stupidity and ignorance combined with technology
led to the destruction of all life, and the same could easily happen to us – one of the messages
in the book.
One can ask if science really is good. Of course, the subject in and of itself is not inherently
good or bad – it is amoral – the question is whether or not its finds’ positives outweigh their
negatives. On one hand, science has given humanity electricity, and all that that implies. On
the other hand, it has given us the atom bomb – and now even more threatening dangers. It
seems humankind has assumed could results in ought. Just because we could pursue
something, we did – independent of its implications. Should we then develop technology to
customize children before they are born, both their intellect and appearance? Is the
development good just because it is possible?
The dilemma is partly explored through the characters of Felix and Bokonon. One, a
seemingly apathetic scientist, and the other, a flummig, deceiving religious person. In this day
and age, people strive against religion more and more. Atheism – being without a god – seems
to abolish orthodox views, making humankind more modern. In western society, racism,
sexism, homophobia, all are diminishing. But one must not forget, with these illogical views,
religion also brought with it philosophy of decent human behaviour. Of course, kindness
existed long before religion saw the light of day, but the beliefs undeniably set up some
ground rules. It is therefore possible to, with the abolishment of religion and all the horrors
that follow, remove the humane aspect of our lives.
The problem is embodied with Felix and Bokonon. It might seem like their fatal flaw, Felix’s
urge to develop technology resulted in his death, and Bokonon, in not being able to handle
reality, created Bokononism.

Meaninglessness
In The Books of Bokonon it is stated that its contents are “nothing but shameless lies”. As
established, the religion is only meant as a means for people to forget unpleasant truths and
live happy lives through harmless untruths. The religion also has ways of describing certain
aspects in life to a point where everything loses meaning. It portrays a world lacking free will
where events just act as devices to control you. There is no point in doing anything, for it is all
destiny. If you choose to act, however, perhaps achieving greatness, that to was destiny, and
you are not to praise.
Cat’s Cradle
The title of the book refers to the two-player string game by the same name. Felix Hoenniker
used to play this very game with his son Newt. Later in life he uses it to symbolize one of
Bokonon’s messages. He once paints an image of a cat’s cradle. John remarks his liking of the
result, and after some discussion, Newt utters:
“’No wonder kids grow up crazy. A cat’s cradle is nothing but a bunch of X’s between
somebody’s hands, and little kids look and look and look at all those X’s...’
‘And?’
‘No damn cat, and no damn cradle.’”
Later in the story, John notices Angela’s pretending to be happily married, to which Newt
replies: “See the cat? See the cradle?” The game symbolises misery in disguise; as several
characters try convincing themselves of happiness, children pretend the X’s are a cat’s cradle.
The person in question tries to see the “X’s” as a “cat’s cradle”; they cloak reality with
harmless and more pleasant untruths.

Conclusion
Cat’s Cradle is a brilliant book, using dark humour as a means of portraying important and
interesting topics. Its characters are very polished and go through a well-paced and
unpredictable story. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the conecept of
destruction through technology or nihilism.