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
“Papa” doesn’t die, “not then.” Minton and Claire are driven to their embassy; Newt and Angela go to Frank’s house; H. Lowe and Hazel Crosby are taken along with John to the Casa Mona hotel. The Crosbys ask the cab driver about the identity of Bokonon, whom the driver describes as a “very bad man.” The driver explains that Bokonon is in hiding. Anyone caught helping him would get the “hook,” which the driver pronounces as “hy-u-o-ook-kuh.”
“Papa’s” death is constantly being deferred, heightening the novel’s sense of absurdity. The driver is only pretending to badmouth Bokonon—everyone secretly practices Bokononism on the island—who in turn is only pretending to be a religious leader. The hook is the torture implement based on something Bokonon saw at Madame Tussauds’ in London.
Themes
