Abstract To understand the point of the humor in "Cat's Cradle" by Kurt Vonnegut, it is necessary to examine the point of the story itself. All of Vonnegut's books touch on broad social issues in a rather cartoonish way that serves a much darker and difficult purpose than what they appear to address. Like Breakfast of Champions, and Hocus Pocus, Cat's Cradle, is a humorous take on the organizations and social structures that the world holds as absolutes with the angle that such things do not exist - all is arbitrary. In this work, we find that there is a brilliant combination of lampoon (in the form of the polarized roles taken by the two friends who created the island nation dictatorial politics and religion, Bokononism; which are intended to oversimplify the arbitrariness of politics and religion) and of black humor (which is clearly marked in the violence, deprivation, and oppression that are used only to perpetrate the lie that is the society). Irony, perhaps, is the constant of every event and passage in this book. It is irony that makes us understand that the humor in the story is a rather caustic, disbelieving, and disenchanting look at our own and every other society.
Abstract This paper expounds on the main theme in "Cat's Cradle" that life is meaningless. The paper discusses Vonnegut's use of images, irony, and eccentric characters to express his theme about the meaningless of life. It also explains how Vonnegut relates this theme to religion, marriage, and almost everything else humans teach each other.
From the Paper "Clearly, Vonnegut is depicting a side of human nature that cannot deal with the truth, so it is fed and willingly believes the lies it is told by the ?religion.? In fact, "Truth was the enemy of the people, because the truth was so terrible, so Bokonon made it his business to provide the people with better and better lies" (172). In addition, to create more "zest" and "tang" within the lives of the people, Bokonon decides to have himself declared an outlaw. He emphasizes his belief that "A really good religion is a form of treason" (173). The legend of a holy man in the jungle and the tyrant in the city was the only thing that made the people happy. (174) Perhaps the most striking example of this theme is the last scene of the book in which Bokonon writes in the final sentence of his book that if he were a younger man, he would "make a statue of himself, lying on my back, grinning horribly, and thumbing my nose at You Know Who" (287). Again, we are shown Vonnegut's opinion regarding the power of religion. Through the willingness of the people to accept Bokonon, Vonnegut is asking us to search our own lives for such blind faith."
