Cat's Cradle

“Thus, where Yeats, Eliot, and Joyce sought to restore a deep new purpose, a new sense of design, form and depth, a new sense of primordial origin in myth, Postmodernists often see no reason for a center” (Powell 18). This is one of the central themes of Postmodernism; no center. No absolute truth that is the epicenter of all knowledge. No particular reason why we exist. No religion that satisfies all the questions of every single person. No universal meaning of life.

Cat’s Cradle shares some of these postmodernistic ideas. For example, when John the narrator says “Nowhere does Bokonon warn against a person’s trying to discover the limits of his karass and the nature of the work God Almighty has had it do. Bokonon simply observes that such investigations are bound to be incomplete” (Vonnegut 4). John accepts that there are things happening that are beyond his comprehension. No matter how hard he tries, no matter what he does he will never be able to solve the puzzle of God. So he simply does not try to. People all around him on the other hand do and he ridicules them for attempting something so outlandish.

I think postmodernism also tries to get away from the notion that science can explain everything. This is displayed in the novel, somewhat. Felix who represents science “started playing with [the string]. His fingers made the string figure called a ‘cat’s cradle’” (Vonnegut 11). Cat’s cradle is a string game that is never ending. It just continues to make more and more complex webs and entanglements. Felix who was playing with it represents what science is doing. Science just keeps on delving and delving into more and more complex things in an attempt to explain the simpler things. However, those complex things also need an explanation. So science is a never ending quest for knowledge and some form of truth. No one is to say how far science will go and what it will lead to.

Possible topics for an essay that our fingers are itching to type

Okay. One the thing I find interesting about this book is everything. The society depicted is so backwards compared to today’s standards that this whole book seems to be one giant compilation of things unfamiliar. However, they have seemingly created a Utopia. How is this possible? Is it because their “backwards” world is so convoluted that is actually works? Maybe. But the question I would like answered is: Is living in a utopia worth getting rid of the individuality of every person?

Now before you pounce on this thought and reject it immediately, think about it. What do they have that we today are always striving for? They have no wars, no conflicts, no crime, unlimited happiness, and the acceptance of who they are on the social ladder. But at a price. And this price is individuality. So my question comes up again is living in a utopia worth getting rid of the individuality of every person?

My answer/thesis to this would be: Taking into consideration all the benefits of living in a world like Brave New World, I would have to say that living in a utopia is not worth eradicating the individuality of every person.

Now that was the primary interest of my concern. Other topics that I would like to explore would be things like why is the structure of the society so indispensable? Why would this society not be a utopia if there was no social order.

Finally, the character Bernard Marx is very interesting. He is like the black sheep of Brave New World. He just doesn’t seem to fit in. While others want sex, he actually wants to get to know the women beyond the physical level. While others want sex; he wants to look out into the ocean. And while others want more sex, he wants to have long midnight walks (or something to that effect). So it is quite obvious that he doesn’t fit in. His abnormality makes him one of societies “flaws.” This is peculiar because his abnormality gives him something the others don’t have; a voice. A voice that lets him state his own opinions, his own thoughts, and his likes as well as his dislikes. Ironically, he is the only person that serves as something “correct” in the society according to our standards.

Other books that I would use to help with this whole process would definitely be 1984 and Postmodernism. Now I haven’t read all that many books in my lifetime but I have seen quite a few movies. And one movie in particular that stood out to me in relation to what we have been reading is The Island. Now I probably wouldn’t be able to quote from this but I think it would serve as a good guide.