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.