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 ment (1973), in an interview with Robert Scholes, that one of his reasons for writing is to poison minds with kindnessto encourage them to make a collapse earth (107). This idea whole kit and caboodle quite well in Vonneguts book of account, Cats Cradle. It is a satirical story of a mans quest to write a book about the day the world ended (refering to the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima), which he neer finishes. What we get is a raw disembodied spirit at humans act desperately to find a sense of purpose in their lives by means of different means such as holiness, science, etc.Vonnegut uses satire that is some(prenominal) dark and humorous to pursue this point. A good example is found in the prelude of the book where he writes, Nothing in this book is true. Live by the foma Harmless untruths that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy.Bokonon, we learn, is a holiness th at is made up of bittersweet lies (12). 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 wreak with, the richer we become (36).I conceptualise one thing that Vonnegut is trying to examine us is that man too easily accepts things as valid without questioning. Refering to this, Newt, other character, says, No wonder kids grow up crazy. A cats cradle is cypher but a bunch of Xs between somebodys hands, and little kids look and look and look at all those XsNo beatified cat, and no damn cradle (114). Cats Cradle is full 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 hu manity in order that humanity might see its make the folly 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 are directing their own lives.