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
Angela returns with her clarinet. When she plays—along to a record—John is astonished by the beauty of her playing. Julian quotes a poem from The Books of Bokonon: “Tiger got to hunt, / Bird got to fly; / Man got to sit and wonder, “Why, why, why?’ / Tiger got to sleep, / Bird got to land; / Man got to tell himself he understand.” John says he’d like to see a copy of the book. Julian explains that the only copies of it are made by hand, and Bokonon adds things every day. Newt shouts “religion!” and makes the cat’s cradle sign again.
Angela’s clarinet playing is a kind of absurd representation human culture. It is beautiful but ultimately feels insignificant compared with the gravity of the book’s apocalyptic subject. She is a bit like the band playing as the Titanic went down. Bokonon’s poem neatly aligns the novel with absurdist philosophy, especially that put forward by Frenchman Albert Camus. Man wants to understand the world, but the world does nothing to satisfy that desire.
Themes
