

Vonnegut’s Simplicity in Cat's Cradle
Steve Lustbader
The simple style with which Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. writes
his novels belies the complexity hidden behind his
sentences. Vonnegut’s novels, as a result, are amazingly
easy and, to many, enjoyable to read, yet they contain
messages that go to the very root of humanity, messages that
are not hidden underneath flowery prose. The success of
Cat's Cradle, like all of his novels, relies on this
simplicity to reveal its messages about religion, death, and
apocalypse to the reader.
Cat's Cradle is composed of a series of short, very
direct, and seemingly simple sentences, that, when combined,
form a surprisingly complex novel. Cat's Cradle, like most
of Vonnegut’s novels, is not very wordy. Vonnegut will
almost always say things directly; for example, when
discussing the history of San Lorenzo, he writes,
"Subsequent expeditions came for gold…found none, burned
a few natives for entertainment and heresy, and sailed on"
(89). Vonnegut uses a very direct and flippant manner when
he writes of things that others might not confront, such as
the cruelty of the conquistadors. He does not try to hide
his messages subtly, so his readers get the full meaning out
of his novel, even if they are reading the book merely for
entertainment. One does not have to search through his novel
word-for-word to find Vonnegut’s themes. Instead, Vonnegut
sends his themes via simplicity and exaggeration. For
Vonnegut to convey his ideas successfully to the reader, he
must use a simple style to do s o; his point of view is so
contrary to the norm that simplicity is the only way for him
to get his point of view to his readers. Otherwise, the
reader cannot possibly accept Vonnegut’s radical views. This
style of his writing pulls his message out of the text and
into the readers’ minds.
In addition, Vonnegut pairs simplicity with
science-fiction, which some say detracts from his novels.
This style is very noticeable in Slaughterhouse–Five, but it
does not take away from the strength of the messages of
Slaughterhouse–Five or those of Cat's Cradle. Cat's Cradle
is not as fantastic as Slaughterhouse–Five, but it is
centered on a fictional substance that makes water freeze at
high temperatures, which is beyond realistic fiction. Just
like simplicity, science fiction makes Vonnegut’s vi
ew-point easier for the reader to understand. In a realistic
world, the traditional values of society will be the easiest
to find in the novel. Going beyond normal pulls the reader
out of real life, where other ideas and points of view are
brought into the forefront. Many readers may not like
science-fiction, but it not only makes his novels more
enjoyable than dryer novels, such as Catcher in the Rye, it
gets his points across better than total realism allows him.
One of the ideas the simplicity of Cat's Cradle conveys
is the true meaninglessness of life. He begins with the
title of the novel; Cat's Cradle is appropriately named
after a meaningless children’s game that involves making
a series of X’s with a string. Newt Hoenikker describes the
game briefly by saying "No damn cat, and no damn Cradle"
(114); in essence, the game, and life itself, is really
meaningless. Julian Castle, the living saint, is able to
prove that some things are not meaningless, such as the laws
of gravity, when he throws little Newt’s painting about the
meaningless of life down a waterfall. This meaninglessness
of life is what eventually draws Lionel Boyd Johnson to
found a new religion called Bokononism.
Bokononism, the fictional San Lorenzan religion, serves
two functions in the novel, both of which stem from
Vonnegut’s simplicity. First is a way of addressing the
meaninglessness of life, which is what many religions try to
do in their own way and with their own levels of success.
Second Vonnegut’s way of mocking the world’s religions
through his own religion that is quite unusual. Vonnegut
writes Cat's Cradle in a style similar to The Books of
Bokonon the Bokononist bible. He includes several pass ages
from the Books of Bokonon throughout the novel, such as this
one from the Calypsos describing Bokonon’s motives behind
Bokononism:
I wanted all things
To seem to make some sense,
So we all could be happy, yes,
Instead of tense.
And I made up lies
So that they all fit nice,
And I made this sad world
A par-a-dise. (90)
Bokonon realizes that life has no meaning, but he also
realizes that he can make people happy just by pretending
life has a purpose. These harmless untruths, or foma, allow
people to enjoy their truly meaningless life. Like most
religions, Bokononism is based on lies, but unlike those
religions, it uses those lies to make people happy. The
first sentence of The Books of Bokonon is "All of the true
things I am about to tell you are shameless lies," (14) and
the narrator warns the reader, "Anyone unab le to understand
how a useful religion can be founded on lies will not
understand this book either" (14). This book is a part of
Bokononism, so anyone that does not understand the theory
behind Bokononism cannot understand this novel. Knowing the
basis of Bokononism is foma, the Bokononist narrator’s
reliability can be questioned, but the narrator’s background
as a journalist restores his credibility. This made-up
religion is a satirical look at religion in general. Using
Bokonon’s simple Calypsos, Vonnegut mocks established
religions by creating a false religion that exposes the
major weakness in most religions, which is that they are
based on lies that are passed off as truth.
In addition to religion, Cat's Cradle confronts, in
a simple manner, man’s destructive nature in the destruction
of the world. This theme is one that pervades many of
Vonnegut’s novels. In his anti-war novel, Slaughterhouse-5,
Billy Pilgrim asks the Tralfamadorians if they are afraid of
humans because humans are so destructive. In Cat's Cradle,
the destruction of the world is caused by a substance that
is developed to make water freeze at a higher temperature.
Felix Hoenikker develops this substance because the military
wanted an easier way to traverse swamps. Ironically, the
chemical the military wants is the same thing that
eventually wipes out all the armies everywhere, because
ice-nine would cause all water it came in contact with to
freeze, so one tiny molecule has the ability to destroy the
world. While this occurrence is an exaggeration, a prior
invention of Hoenikker’s inventions does have the power to
destroy the world: the atomic bomb. Vonnegut’s exaggeration
makes his point clear: if man cannot destroy the world one
way, he will continue trying, because it is human nature to
risk destroying the world to further one’s own ends.
Cat's Cradle depends on Vonnegut’s simplicity and other
literary techniques, like exaggeration, to make its point.
Man’s destructive nature is made quite clear in this
excellent novel, and unnecessary words and sentences would
have destroyed the clarity of Vonnegut’s message. The
message, and the readability of the novel, are more
important than if the novel is of the same literary caliber
as the likes of Shakespeare and Hemingway. Vonnegut’s simple
sentences, combined with exaggeration, irony, and elements
of science fiction, make his novels, and the messages
contained within them, very powerful, and very enjoyable to
read. In this way, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. has established
himself as a literary master.
This essay comes from the author's The Complete Kurt Vonnegut Web Page
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Last modified: May 12, 2002