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
Crosby comes over angrily, asking if Philip is a “beatnik.” Philip replies that he is Bokononist; Crosby is shocked, considering that being a Bokononist is against the law: “I believe in obeying the laws of whatever country I happen to be in.” He shouts at Philip, before marching over to the hotel lobby to complain about Philip. The desk clerk reveals that Philip owns the hotel.
Crosby’s comical anger embodies the suspicion around young counter-cultural Americans in the mid-20th century, who were thought to be—and sometimes were—attracted to the ideas of Communism. “Beatniks” were young Americans associated with the Beat poets (e.g. Allen Ginsberg). Crosby’s statement is patently ridiculous, suggesting that a given nation’s laws are the most important thing to obey, rather than any self-developed sense of morality.
Themes
