Cat's Cradle Journal 2 (Quarter 2)

            I have read some more of Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. This book is really starting to grow on me. However, there are some parts that I do not understand the importance of. One such example is when the narrator is in the cemetery showroom. The narrator meets the brother of a man that he encountered earlier in the book and sees the name of his own ancestors on a tombstone. My guess is that the point of this is to show the narrator that everything is intertwined, but it seems like there could be better ways of doing this. The book starts to really get interesting when everyone arrives on the island of San Lorenzo. Through a strange turn of events, the narrator becomes the new president of San Lorenzo. At the ceremony to celebrate the “Hundred Martyrs to Democracy”, which the narrator resides over, Minton gives a speech that nicely explains the purpose of the book. He abandons his formal speech that he prepared and speaks straight from his heart. Minton starts out powerfully by stating that war murders children. He goes on to say that he believes that there should not fancy ceremonies celebrating children lost at war. Instead, he points out that people can only take part in festivities if “we the celebrants, are working consciously and tirelessly to reduce the stupidity and viciousness of ourselves and of all mankind.” Basically, Minton is saying that instead of focusing on those who died, we should be trying to stop people from dying. This really spoke to me. It also helped me to realize that the purpose of this novel is to make the readers realize the stupidity of our society and to try to change our ways before it is too late. Unfortunately, I doubt that enough people will read this book for it to make any kind of impact on the world as a whole. This novel has certainly changed my views, however. Cat’s Cradle is truly a literary masterpiece.

Cat's Cradle Journal 1 (Quarter 2)

            This quarter, I decided to read Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. I did not completely understand this novel, but I will write about what I did get. I actually chose this book because I thought it would give me a lot to write about, but it may have been too deep for me. The plot revolves around the narrator, whose name is hardly ever mentioned, the Hoenikker family, and the island of San Lorenzo where they all happen to meet. The three Hoenikker children each have a piece of ice-nine, which has to potential to destroy the entire world. The other important character is Bokonon, the creator of a religion that is followed by the entire population of San Lorenzo. This religion, Bokononism, was made to mock other religions. Bokonon continually insists that everything he says and writes is a lie. Nevertheless, people still believe him and follow what he teaches. This novel is broken up strangely. The chapters are all pretty short, ranging from less than a page to about three pages at the most. This style makes the book seem choppy and disoriented. Each chapter ends with what can be seen as a punchline. This works well with the abundance of satire in the book. Vonnegut also includes a fair amount of foreshadowing. One example is when the narrator first meets Horlick Minton, the new American ambassador of San Lorenzo, and his wife, Claire. The narrator says that “When it came time for the Mintons to die, they did it within the same second.” Seventy-four chapters later, the Mintons end up falling to their death into the ocean together. Furthermore, the first chapter foreshadows the rest of the book when the narrator says that his name is Jonah, meaning that something has compelled him to be at certain places at certain times. Anyway, I’m really enjoying this book. It makes me want to read more of Vonnegut’s novels.