http://www.general-ebooks.com/read/319367

Meaning

One of the main themes throughout Cat's Cradle is the meaning life, or whether there is one. Really, one of main themes is just the idea of "meaning" and if anything really has meaning, or if we just project meaning onto pointless things. The title itself is about projecting meaning onto meaningless things: the cat's cradle, where there is neither cat nor cradle. When John talks about what happened with the artist, he says that that is when he decided that nihilism was not for him, that that particular philosophy was not something he believed in. Therefor, he believed that existence had meaning, and he continued to hold onto that. He held on to that with objects that he projected symbolic meaning, like the stone angel with his name on it. He also held onto the belief that life had meaning with religion, with Bokonism. And again, he held on to it when he projected his feelings of love onto Mona, a girl he didn't know. Then near the end, there are two quotes in particular that seem to indicate that he might be wrong. " 'Everything must have a purpose?' asked God. 'Certainly,' said man. 'Then I leave it to you to think of one for all this, said God." (265) "They brought him here, placed him at their center, and commanded him to tell them exactly what God Almighty was up to and what they should now do. The mountebank told them that God was surely trying to kill them, possibly because He was through with them, and that they should have the good manners to die. This, as you can see, they did." (273) Both of these quotes show a lack of meaning in life. The first shows how it was man, not God, that decided there must be a purpose, and was then left to try and decide what that purpose was. The second quote shows how Bokonon was not a savior, but quite the opposite. When the people asked him to give them meaning, he told them that they should die. John gets increasingly distressed, confused by the lack of meaning in everything he believed. He get angry, and confused. And he says in the last few pages: "But what, for the love of God, is supposed to be in my hands?" He is looking for a symbol, to hold on to. He needs something to grasp, something to project meaning on to. But in the end, nothing is there, and the readers are just as confused about whether anything has meaning as he is.

 

Emily’s Reading Reflection for “Cat’s Cradle”
Overall “Cat’s Cradle” by Kurt Vonnegut was a difficult and rather strange read, in the way that the material was presented. But it was very interesting none the less. Some of the difficult areas I came across were acknowledging the made up words, religion, actions, and places. Also the fact that some scenes, objects, or people seemed to just be fillers in the story, which begged the question if it is an important message or not. Some of these confusions for me landed with Mona, Bokonism, the taxi driver/angel, the non-emotional reaction to his cat and apartment, the ending of the book and several other scenarios.  What started out as research for a book turned out to be a world changing and depressing life situation. After reading this story I have come to the conclusion that this book was not about understanding everything in the world or the people who live in it. Instead this story shows people that no one will never know and understand everything if anything, however that’s ok and sometimes that is just how it is meant to be. It is more important to acknowledge what one can instead of covering it up with comforting lies or pretending it doesn’t exist. People do not have to accept others interests and certain scenarios in the world but everyone should be aware that no matter what happens in the world it happens for a reason and people need to be able to be aware of it no matter how pleasant of unpleasant. This book also had to deal with many different “worlds” coming together into one story. This could be all the different strings webbed into a cat’s cradle. As Newt questions multiple times if people see the cat or the cradle. One might not see it, but something is there happening and connecting one way or another. The author also goes into detail about the stupidity and hopelessness humans have as a race. People will always have their flaws/stupidity and there may not be a point to a lot of things we do in the world, however that doesn’t mean everything and everyone is pointless. Humans do amazing things, and there are downsides to everything, focusing on negatives won’t accomplish anything. I also thought that the characters in the novel were very unique and some rather annoying. The main character John I feel had a complete mind set change as soon as he stepped foot in San Lorenzo his goal of creating a book and doing research was diminished in a new way. Mona seemed blinded by her ideals and as the book stats her and others “good manners killed them”. (Ch. 115, Pg. 259) Angela because of how she lived and was raised acts very unbalanced mentally as an adult.  Papa was a character that always confused me and Frank was not much better, they had their own hidden shady agendas. No two characters were alike in this story that much is for sure, and it added to the uniqueness and confusion of the story. So do you “see the cat”? “see the cradle”?  did he ever write his book. The world may never know, but that’s just ok. (Ch.81, Pg. 183)

What's wrong with us?-Cat's Cradle post...

Cat's Cradle was hands down the most interesting book I have read from Vonnegut, aside for Slaughterhouse Five and many others. It got me really thinking and being confused and like trying to figure out what is going on, but the more you read into it the more you will get the gist of it, if not maybe understanding it fully. The clash of Religion and Science had really made it's point, especially among Human Stupidity. We all view things differently and we all have our different aspects of how well we understand science, but if we don't quite understand the mystery then we should not try to risk such disastrous outcome that may happen the further we go into studying something no one understands. Something so dangerous as ice-nine should have have been released upon in this story, it affected everyone. Even if you are lucky you haven't come into contact with ice-nine, the disaster that ice-nine has caused made most people lose their mind and commit suicide. I believe that Vonnegut's stories/books/essays are a way to make fun of certain things along with having imagination as to what if? What if such science experiments were to happen and what if it got into the wrong hands or something bad happened while experimenting on it. Religion takes affect onto how we want to view things in the world, we make religion happen based on how we want to be and how we want others to be, as well as how we want everyone to think alike and agree with everything someone has to say. They don't want there to be any rights and wrongs, just simply I am right and everything I believe in is right. They want this utopian society that we will never have, no matter how hard they try to enforce the perfect rules and have the perfect life and world, there will always be some chaotic even happening to make everyone lose their place, even if it takes on person to make it happen. This book simply has my mind going into a scrambled mess where I can't even think or even grasp at what I am trying to make sense in saying. It's in different directions, and can't really come into conclusion the ending of the book or the ending of my thoughts. But I do know the Kurt Vonnegut has a great mind when it comes to writing his shit down.  Human stupidity is what's wrong with our society, we aren't careful about things anymore especially when it comes to the unknown. we want to figure out what it is and how it works and try to further our examination on everything out there. My advice is simply this: Some things are meant to be left alone! Some things are meant to be unknown and mysterious to us. We are not always meant to figure out what every little-old or knew-things are....stop before some disastrous catastrophe happens for real. But on the other end, it would be cool to see what would happen and how we all would react and maybe....just maybe...learn from our mistakes..again.. The only question that remains for me is: What's wrong with us?

The morals behind science

When we first started reading Cat's Cradle, the narrator talked about writing a book about the father of the atomic bomb, Felix Hoennikker. I was curious who the actual father of the atomic bomb was, and it turned out to be Robert Oppenheimer. Tyson had given us a link to a video called, "Now I am Become Death, The Destroyer of Worlds". In this short video, Robert expressed his feelings of when the first atomic bomb went off. With expanding technology, the atomic bomb was a great leap forward. The power locked behind such a beastly thing is too immense to comprehend. I think it was this power that worried Robert Oppenheimer. I recently beat Deux Ex: Human Revolution; I was given a choice to alter a broadcast sent out about human enhancement such as robotic limbs and sensory improvements. There was one against all science, against regulation, for regulation, and to send out nothing. I pulled a quote out from this game that fits perfectly, "I managed to hang on to my humanity - but the temptation to ignore it was always there... It's that temptation that so worries Taggart (A man looking for regulations on human enhancements). He's not afraid of freedom. He's afraid of the chaos that erupts when individuals have nothing but morality to constrain them,". Without morals, what are we capable of? Without any sense of right or wrong, what would be achieved and or destroyed? With progress witnessed by Oppenheimer, would anyone consider him crazy for not accepting the future he helped to create?

Cat's Cradle Reflection or: How I Learned to Might as Well Go Out with a Bang

Is the insanity prevalent on San Lorenzo the inhabitant's reaction to the island's absurdity or simply humanity under a magnifying glass. John acting as our ears and eyes of the average human's interaction with humanity under extreme pressure. Not only pressure from natural resources, but by ideological pressure. Confronted with a radical new lifestyle and no fundamental background to cling to, John embraces this particular answer to the age old question, " Why are we here?" This question isn't as important as the next question he confronts, "Where are we going?" The end of the world and Bokononism as a method to interpret this madness, we edge closer to seeing how a human operates in a near-vacuum. More than a plot device to get the main characters isolated in the same room, this end of days allows us to peak into fundamental portions of the human psyche. In a cosmos as random and bizarre as ours, how can one not accept an answer as equally bizarre as Bokononism?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxrWz9XVvls

Content Group Reading Material

http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html

Some questions to ask yourself:

1. How does the Apocalypse on Earth of Cats Cradle relate to the inevitable Apocalypse of  the Universe?

2. How does the characteristic of death always result with something else's birth?

3. Compare the humor of Vonnegut and the realism of Asimov, which makes you feel more comfortable?

Cat’s Cradle Reflection

This was hands down one of the most interesting books I have read, granted I don’t venture out of certain genres too often. I have to admit, at times Vonnegut’s writing was hard to follow, but I found myself at the edge of my seat, frantically turning page after page.

That being said, I was unsatisfied with the end, it was like a dream after you wake up trying to piece it together, and you try to get back to sleep to continue it. That didn’t happen, so I was left thinking “WTF.” I don't understand how anything in this book ties together, and I kept thinking about what the stone angel with the narrators name on it was all about.

As I reflect I think little Newt said it best, “ no damn cat, no damn cradle,” this book for me reiterated the notion that not all is what it seems. San Lorenzo seemed like a place of greatness and happiness, but there was a lot of fear.  Bokononism was banned from San Lorenzo, however Franklin had The Book of Bokonon at his bedside. There were a lot of contradicting events, and issues that Vonnegut put in place to make you think.

I feel like Vonnegut was poking fun at the Bible, because in retrospect, if everyone on San Lorenzo died except for the Crosbys, Newt, Franklin, Mona and the stories narrator, this rag-tag group was the beginning of a new world.  They survived, they defined Charles Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest, and that blows my mind. There were better candidates to participate in the beginning of a new world. 

I think the final words in the book were intended to answer the question that science is an important part of our world, and it will be the main reason the world ends. But what do I know, I thought the book would somehow be about a children's game that required two players and was a symbol of peace. "Where is the cat? Where is the cradle?"

After everything in Cat's Cradle, I still feel the most important point to be “Anyone unable to understand how useful religion can be founded on lies will not understand this book either.”

As someone who often finds himself arguing with friends of mine who dislike religion, I feel as if I had already come to agree with this quote before I even read it. I'm personally of the opinion that religion, whether you believe it or not, is helpful and (usually) positive.

Human Stupidity

Few books have left me feeling as empty as I felt at the end of Cat’s Cradle. Here I was trying to find meaning in his words, trying to understand what he wants his readers to understand, but after I read the last word I was left grasping. Human stupidity is to blame. We are the most intelligent race on the planet and yet we are still stupid as all hell. I heard about an interesting Italian economist named Carlo Cipolla. He stood out to me because he wrote a two-part essay, the second part of which was titled, The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity. I believe the essay was originally meant as somewhat of a joke among his close friends, but it certainly is hard to argue with when studied closely. In the essay he explains his five laws of human stupidity, the third being my favorite. It states that, “A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of people while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring loss”. In his definition of stupidity it does not matter if you can take thirteen percent of twenty-four or spell “intelligent”, it only takes into account whether a person has caused loss to another person or group while deriving no gain. Science, as perceived by most of society, is an intelligent endeavor. So why does science have such a great ability to wreck havoc upon the world? It is because science usually only factors in who or what could be gained, not who or what could be lost. I think this is what Vonnegut is getting at. He as a scientist knows the miraculous accomplishments it is capable of, but he also realizes that human stupidity is uncontrollable and ever prevailing. 

As previously stated I was in a strange mood after finishing Cat's Cradle so I grabbed a beer and made a song. I split the song into three parts: the science vs. religion theme, the way the world would sound if ice-nine was unleashed upon it, and what was going through Bokonon's mind when he thumbed his nose at God.

Religion and Science

The one thing that stood out to me in this book was Vonnegut’s lack of “siding” with one side over the other. He gives us the extreme and lets the reader decide where their beliefs and morals lay. The most evident of this is Bokonism. Bokonism is described as a catalyst to uniting the people of San Lorenzo because when you force a belief, or the lack of belief, people rebel and in that rebellion, they unite. Bokonon and McCabe knew this and that’s why they outlaw Bokonism in San Lorenzo. This reminds me of the Catholic vs. Protestant debacle in 16^th century England. The Catholics tried to squash Protestantism but they couldn’t because you can’t stop a metaphysical action, such as faith, you can only make it stronger. Religion is a funny thing because it can be the answer to somebody’s salvation while also being the utter ruin of somebody’s existence. Religion has saved people from despair and also been the reason for hundreds of wars and blood-shed; same can be said for science. Both science and religion can be beautiful factions of human progress and happiness, but if it’s left in the hands of evil they can be the worse weapons humans possess. I think this duality is one of the things Vonnegut was drawing on. His scientists are unsympathetic and void of human compassion so they create things like the atomic bomb without any thought or care of the consequences should they end up in the wrong hands; and it did and it killed thousands of innocent people. Religion has been used to torture, oppress, and destroy human life while claiming to save in the name of God. At “Papa” Monzano’s deathbed he asks for the Bokonist’s last rites to be read to him because he states, “I agree with one Bokononist idea. I agree that all religions, including Bokononism, are nothing but lies” (148). And he’s right, but I don’t think it’s meant to be negative. I think he means that religion is faith-based, but people act like it’s based on proven fact, like it’s a scientific truth, which completely degrades the whole point of religion. In the next sentence he says, “I am a very bad scientist. I will do anything to make a human being feel better, even if it’s unscientific” (148). Science lacks the humanity that religion possesses in spades. As we discussed in the Picasso at the Lapin Agile, science and religion/art should not be at war with each other. They should not compete, but instead work together for the betterment of mankind.

Morals, Manipulation and Science

In Cat’s Cradle what caught my interest was the way the Dr. Hoenikker was manipulated by the government into working on the atomic bomb. The reason I think they manipulated him was because of the turtles. When Dr. Hoenikker started working on the bomb and then became interested in turtles and stooped working on the bomb, “Some people from the Manhattan Project finally came out to the house to ask Angela what to do. She told them to take away Father’s turtles.”(12, Vonnegut) This to me is manipulation. If Dr. Hoenikker had been left with his turtles the research on the atom bomb wouldn’t have been finished or at least not in a timely manner, which meant they wouldn’t have been able to use it in that war.  It seems as if Dr. Hoenikker is merely a child with great intellect and creativity so he is going to play with first off whatever he is interested and if nothing is interesting whatever is in front of him. The people in the Manhattan Project used his childish persona to benefit their goals and tactics. Can it be said that Dr. Hoenikker was a heroic scientist or an intelligent childish tool of the government? Another part of this that caught my attention was the fact that even though Dr. Hoenikker was researching and creating the bomb it wasn't unrealistic to him. To him the bomb was a concept that was groundbreaking to science not a tool that would win a war and kill millions. Was Dr. Hoenikker thinking of the real life purpose of the bomb or was he simply interested in the scientific aspect of atoms? Based on Dr. Hoenikker’s dependency on Angela and the way people in Illium portrayed him I would say he was merely in it for the research. On the day of the bomb he was playing with string, not staring at the news to see what he had created. I think this was because he hadn't attached morals to his research, he knew it was him who had made the atom bomb possible but I think he also knew he wasn’t the one using it to destroy people. Dr. Breed says, “Pure research men work on what fascinates them, not on what fascinates other people."(31, Vonnegut) This means he was only doing research and not thinking about the application of the device, or any of his creations for that matter. When he created Ice 9 he wasn’t thinking I can freeze the world with this speck of ice but instead he could condense a great amount of ice into a speck and that in itself was what mattered to him. Which makes me question do pure research men in the story or in real life apply ethics to their research or do they, as they say in the story, just work on what fascinates them? Nothing in this world can be completely detached from society and in that case morals/ethics but certain people, scientist for example, can be doing this research and not be aware of the way it will be used. In that case the scientist does not carry the moral burden of what they have created but without their creation the application would not have been possible.  I would imagine that is a paradox for scientist in that sort of field, caught between learning more about the world or protecting the world from the knowledge they have learned.

Science vs. Morality

Cat's Cradle Reflection

“Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly;

Man got to sit and wonder 'why, why, why?'

Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land;

Man got to tell himself he understand.”

Cat’s Cradle is all about science and the morals behind it or lack thereof. It is centered around a scientist, Felix Hoenikker, who does not look at science as something that should have morals, he is simply curious. He lacks the ability to see that his inventions and research affect the rest of the world and could have very negative repercussions. Hoenikker is very smart and does not really even realize what he is working on. In the beginning of the book the men looking for the atomic bomb came to his son and asked how they could get him to focus on this instead of his current obsession with turtles. Newt told them that all they had to do was take the turtles away and put the bomb in front of him. They did it and it worked. Felix did not want to make a bomb or anything dangerous he was just curious. He has a lot of the same qualities’ as mankind in the face that we are eternally curious and not thinking about what bad things could come from our curiosity. The quote ‘curiosity killed the cat’ reminds me a lot of this book. I think that curiosity is not as important as keeping the peace and I think that while discovering is very important and this is led by curiosity, morals and not hurting other people is more important and this should be remembered.

Cat's Cradle Reflection

It’s All False

Meaning is not inherent or intrinsic to anything. It’s made up. We create and assign meaning to countless things in life, some with more importance, some with less, as if we actually know how to do so. Often this meaning is assigned without careful thought. Meaning is just thrown and stuck to the first thing that comes our way. For example, people who are born into Christian families (or any other pre-organized religious structure) are spoon-fed ideas since birth. Dictated what is right and wrong, these folk foster a dogmatic dichotomy between good and evil, similar to what Vonnegut calls “Dynamic Tension.”

It provides them something to believe in, a backbone, something to fall on.

Maybe, for those with no pre-disposed faith, it might be harder for them to find something to do with their lives. It’s scary not to have something to lean on. In the lyrics of “Something To Believe In,” by The Ramones:

“Take my hand
Please help me man
‘Cause I’m looking for something to believe in
And I don’t know where to start
And I don’t know where to begin, to begin”

And again, in the words of Philip Castle, “…Something to do with my life, I guess. A way to be busy, a way not to be lonesome.” (pg 161)

We want to connect to someone or some shared concept or goal, even though some believe truth and meaning aren’t achievable. Truth and meaning are just ideas to make us feel comfortable. The idea of truth is held as something beautiful and revered, but reality simply isn’t so. Real is just real. What is just is. But to be consumed by that perspective leads to misery, even if it other people believe it, too.  There is no comfort in the idea that, if we’re all alone then we’re all together in that aloneness.  

“Truth was the enemy of the people, because truth was so terrible, so Bokonon made it his business to provide the people with better and better lies,” Julian Castle (pg 172).

People ally themselves with something and pit themselves against something else. It seems we crave something to oppose, something to fight. Without opposition our existence becomes unclear and ultimately unimportant.

“McCabe was always sane enough to realize that without the holy man to war against, he himself would become meaningless,” Julian Castle (pg 175).

Cat's Cradle Reflection

One thing I learned from this book is that you really can't predict the future. When the atomic bomb was created, they didn't realize what kind of damage that their creation would produce. When the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Newt described how his father wouldn't read anything that people were sending him once the bomb hit, "As I say, all he wanted from that manuscript was the string.That was the way he was. Nobody could predict what he was going to be interested in next." I'm sure that Felix Hoenikker didn't expect his bomb to be one of the biggest destroying devices yet, and how much damage it would really do. When he admitted to the world that he knew this was going to indent a huge toll on Hiroshima, he wasn't thrilled. He started to cry, because he really didn't think that something he had been working on for a long time would do as much damage as it did. The same thing goes for when they went to the land of San Lorenzo. When they got on the plane they were expecting, "A healthy, happy, progressive, freedom-loving,beautiful nation makes itself extremely attractive to American investors and tourists alike." When they got off the plane, they discovered something way different then what they were told. Such as showing up to San Lorenzo with the sight of, "The islanders were oatmeal colored. The people were thin. There wasn't a fat person to be seen. Every person had teeth missing. Many legs were bowed or swollen" It just shows that in life you really don't know what life will bring you. You can try to plan the outcome of the future, but anything can happen and change everything.

Cat's Cradle Reflection

Everything that glitters is not always gold. One theme in Cat's Cradle that captured my attention was that not everything is at it seems. San Lorenzo was portrayed to be "A healthy, happy, progressive, freedom-loving, beautiful nation [that] makes itself extremely attractive to American-investors and tourists alike." These words were taken at face value, and ended being a load of bullocks. This directly correlates to several aspects of society, just because a person says they are this or that does not necessarily mean they really are. Words are one thing, but seeing truly is believing. San Lorenzo ended up being the complete opposite of what it claimed to be. Instead San Lorenzo was a bland, depressing city. Even the people, for "[t]he islanders were oatmeal colored. The people were thin. There wasn't a fat person to be seen. Every person had teeth missing. Many legs were bowed or swollen. Not one pair of eyes was clear." Society is quite gullible, believing almost every little "Fact" they see on the internet without thoroughly doing research and understanding why or how that fact is actually fact. Too many things are taken at face value, and this could be due to a lack of curiosity to learn why or how things work they way they do. Another aspect is how celebrities and women are portrayed through media: perfect little dolls with no flaws. This creates an illusion that being perfect is normal, as if you have to be perfect to be considered "beautiful" be the majority. It's important to do your best in deciphering facts from lies, especially in a society where persuasive techniques are used constantly.

Cat's Cradle Reflection

The main theme that has struck me the most throughout Cat’s Cradle is that many ideas and institutions in our society are based on lies.  “Anyone unable to understand how a useful religion can be founded on lies will not understand this book either.”  This quote from chapter four is the most explicit statement of this theme, but it occurs in other places as well.  Another example would be the creation of the atomic bomb.  Society believes that the bomb was created by a group of scientists to destroy a nation in order to end the war.  John soon finds out that it was Dr. Hoenikker who created by just following what research interested him the most.  His research was then exploited by the US government for the purpose of ending the war.  When reading the book and noticing all of these lies that are the foundation of so many different things there was one lie from my life that I remembered vividly, and that lie was Santa Claus.  I was furious when I found out that Santa was a lie and I was convinced that Christmas would never be the same.  When Christmas did come, to my surprise, it was exactly the same.  I still received presents, saw family, and got off of school for two weeks.  Thinking back on this now I’m happy that my parents lied to me about Santa because it gave me joy as a child while teaching me that Christmas is a fun and joyous time, which I still feel even though Santa is not real.  Thinking back on this helped me to understand the point that Vonnegut is trying to get across.  Even though some foundations are based on lies, that doesn’t make them irrelevant.  He wants to show that the concept of lying is not black and white, just different shades of grey. 

The door opens and enters the love of my life. But she also enters with a strange and handsomly geeky man. How could I compete? I must entertain her to win her heart. The only way to do this with the heathen in the small box we currently occupy is to talk. They’re talking now. Oh god, what do I say? I know, I should talk about condiments. But all the best jokes about condiments are taken,  and I’m sure she has heard them all. But has she heard my mayonnaise story? No, I believe she has not. Yes, I shall tell her. The words run out like I have diahrea of the mouth. She seems annoyed by my speech, but oddly the strange male seemed to like my story. He seemed almost enthralled with my butt grabbing. It has been a habit of mine since I was little. All the people in this place are weird and I often thought I was the sanist one. I didn’t know why she wanted to go down so much. Wanting to go a place that is not allowed is so much funner.

Capital Punishment Crosby

Dr. Breed

Frank

Frank

Dr. Hoenikker

Hazel

Frank

Newt

Hazel

A Very Merry Unessay to You

I have not finished it, but will continue adding to it over the next few weeks. 

Unessay

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