Cat’s Cradle Themes

Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle is a darkly comic book with serious intent. John, the novel’s narrator, sets out to write a book about the day the atomic bomb was dropped, before becoming embroiled in the story of the bomb’s ingenious creator, Dr. Felix Hoenikker. From the outset, Vonnegut makes it clear that this is a book that goes deep into the question of science’s relationship with morality, illustrating how one is entwined with…

Vonnegut’s satire has religion directly in its sights. Much of the novel takes place on San Lorenzo, a fictional island in the Caribbean where inhabitants practice the outlawed religion of Bokononism (another Vonnegut invention). Through this device, Vonnegut explores both the false and genuine hope that religion offers to humankind, all the while leading to the ultimate conclusion that religion does nothing to offset the potential of human folly and instead is merely a manmade…

Vonnegut outlines the way that humankind longs for meaning to its existence. Take, for example, Bokonon’s short poem: “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 that he understand.” It’s in human nature, suggests Vonnegut, to strive for understanding, and for humankind to tell itself grand narratives in order…