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
Bokonon and McCabe dreamed of making San Lorenzo a utopia. Bokonon invented his religion: “I made up lies … and I made this sad world a par-a-dise.” Newt interrupts John’s reading and takes him back to the bar. He talks about Zinka and how they spent hours in each other’s arms, sitting in Dr. Hoenikker’s wicker chair facing the sea. She broke his heart, he says.
The main difference with Bokononism and the world’s major religions is that the youngness of Bokononism means its origin story—the tale of how it came to be conceived—is not lost or obscured. Furthermore, the absurdist Bokonon actively incorporates his religion’s artificiality into its religious content, e.g. in The Books of Bokonon.
Themes
