Chemical and Biological Weapons

Paper Summary:

This paper examines chemical and biological weapons, by defining them, defining their use in past wars and their use today. It illustrates the repetition of history in the correlation between historical use of mass destruction weapons and today. The paper uses Vonnegut's novel "Cat's Cradle" as an example to poses a scenario in which an ultimate chemical weapon (ice-nine) is used on soldiers. The paper shows that the greed in the novel results from the creation of chemical and biological weapons, which threaten to tear apart the world, which it eventually does, leaving a barren frosty wasteland.

From the Paper:

"For the last century, the use of chemical and biological weapons has stood in the back of people's minds as an impersonal and distant horror. This is especially true in the United States, which did not see the poisonous clouds over its battlefields or the sight of businessmen choking to death on its subways like Europe and Japan did. This has changed in recent times, with cases of anthrax continuing to arise from within the bounds of America. Though this danger of chemical and biological weapons is not anywhere near the proportions seen in the novel Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut, it has shown Americans that the threat and destructive power of chemical and biological weapons is valid. Now more than ever it seems that more measures need to be taken to stop the production and use of deadly chemical and biological weapons."

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