Use of Satire in Kurt Vonneguts Cats Cradle :: Kurt Vonnegut Cats Cradle Essays

Use of Satire in Kurt Vonneguts Cats CradleKurt Vonnegut said in The Vonnegut State custodyt (1973), in an interview with Robert Scholes, that one of his reasons for writing is to poison minds with humanityto bring forward them to make a better world (107). This idea works quite well in Vonneguts book, Cats Cradle. It is a satirical story of a mans quest to economise a book about the day the world ended (refering to the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima), which he never finishes. What we get is a new look at humans elbow greaseing desperately to find a sense of purpose in their lives through different means such as religion, science, etc.Vonnegut uses satire that is both dark and humorous to pursue this point. A good example is found in the prelude of the book where he writes, nought in this book is true. Live by the foma Harmless un faithfulnesss that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy.Bokonon, we learn, is a religion that is made up of bittersweet lies (1 2). Truth was the enemy of the people, because the truth was so terrible, so Bokonon the creator of the religion made it his business to provide the people with better and better lies (118). We also learn that science takes the opposite opinion. One of the men who helped develop the atomic bomb tells us, The more truth we have to work with, the richer we become (36).I think one thing that Vonnegut is trying to show us is that man too easily accepts things as valid without questioning. Refering to this, Newt, another character, says, No wonder kids grow up crazy. A cats cradle is nothing but a bunch of Xs between somebodys hands, and little kids look and look and look at all those XsNo damn cat, and no damn cradle (114). Cats Cradle is beat of these kinds of poisons not only about religion and science, but also about many other human frailties as well. In a way, Vonnegut is holding a mirror (that hides no imperfections) up to humanity in order that humanity might see its own the fol ly and futility and thus be impelled to try and improve. I think Vonneguts hope is that this book will allow people to laugh at themselves while also making them think about how they be directing their own lives.