Cat's Cradle

A pertinent book for a dangerous time. Source: Here

“Perhaps, when we remember wars, we should take off our clothes and paint ourselves blue and go on all fours all day long and grunt like pigs. That would surely be more appropriate than noble oratory and shows of flags and well-oiled guns.” 

The second of Vonnegut's books I've read, Cat's Cradle is the more concise, streamlined read to Slaughterhouse Five's non-linear narrative. It's a book that's definitely left me stunned at the accomplishment - tying together a razor-sharp, biting satire on the nuclear arms race and the role of religion with an eccentric family and the world's strangest banana republic in under 200 pages, with plenty of food for thought.

Written in 1963 by Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle concerns our narrator retelling his attempt to gather information for a book he was writing about the day the Americans dropped the atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. His journey takes him from the late Dr. Felix Hoenikker, co-creator of the atom bomb and his three peculiar children to the strange banana republic of San Lorenzo in the Caribbean - and then it really begins to hit the fan. Hoenikker is revealed to have created the peculiar substance ice-nine, which turns water into ice at room temperature when both come into contact. I shouldn't need to explain what would happen if a single crystal were to find itself in the Pacific...

The context of this book's creation is especially key to understanding its intent. Published one year before Dr. Strangelove (one of my favorite films), both were responses and biting criticisms to and of the nuclear arms race. World superpowers possessed (and still possess) the capability to bring about mutually assured destruction several times over with the press of a button and rather than bring progress, science instead brought about the means to destroy ourselves, a sharp break from the optimistic, gilded futures of the 1950s that science promised us. Just the year before, the Cuban Missile Crisis was perhaps the closest humanity had come to the brink of annihilation. 

Vonnegut himself worked for multinational conglomerate General Electric following World War 2, his role being to interview scientists who worked for the company and highlight the good that came from their research. During his time here, Vonnegut found that a select few paid no heed to how their discoveries might be used, seemingly seeking truth for truth's sake without noting what someone else might do with that. A particularly damning scene in the book exemplifies this; when the atom bomb detonates, Felix Hoenniker non-chalantly plays a game of cat's cradle.

Twinned with the threat of nuclear war, the theme of science and its role for humans comes up time and time again and you can see Vonnegut's own experiences filter into the text. Characters like Felix Hoenniker are depicted not as thoughtless, but as completely ignorant of the consequences of the technology they develop - Hoenikker develops ice-nine on a whim without any thought as to how that might be used by others. Why was ice-nine created? Because Hoenikker could. The notion of science as separate from the way the world chooses to use its fruits is put on trial to devastating effect. Vonnegut asks the reader: what is the logical consequence of a discipline with adherents so far removed from the ethics and consequences of their actions?

An equally significant component of the book is its treatment of religion. The fictional faith of Bokononism that the protagonist encounters in San Lorenzo is a belief system seemingly at odds with itself. Outlawed in the republic but practiced by everyone, with a founder that freely admits his religion is a pack of lies, Bokononism is the riposte to anti-theism, admitting that everything it teaches is false, but it still helps the natives of San Lorenzo through their meager existence. Does that not make it a good thing? Even if it isn't objectively true, the foma (the Bokononist version of lies) that dictate our lives - whether it be that we are special or somehow distinguished from other people by virtue of something innate within us - but they aren't bad by virtue of being lies. Indeed, they can drive us to do good, "to be brave and kind and healthy and happy", ever so subtly implying that the truth might not set us free, and instead make us cold and bitter and miserable if that if what we solely pursue.

Vonnegut's writing style here also makes for an incredibly accessible read. He had a message for the world, and wanted to make sure it was easy to pick up. On the whole, Cat's Cradle makes for a though-provoking yarn sure to invite further conversation. Absolutely a must-read, losing none of its shine and none of its relevance.