Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Cat’s Cradle, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Science and Morality
Religion
Governance, Politics, and Nationhood
Absurdity and Meaninglessness
Summary
Analysis
John explains to the reader that, while he was on his trip to Ilium, he let his room out to a “poor poet named Sherman Krebbs.” When he returned from Ilium, he found his couch had been burned, his cat killed, and the rest of the apartment vandalized. John speculates that Sherman was part of his karass, serving as “wrang-wrang”—“a person who steers people away from a line of speculation by reducing that line.”
Sherman is absurdity incarnate, undermining the banal symbols of John’s way of life. In retrospect, John sees this as part of his overall trajectory as a Bokononist.
Themes
