Ice-Nine In Cat's Cradle

The ability to wipe out the entire human race with a single object that could fit in the palm of hand, that is ultimate power. Perhaps one of the most powerful symbols in Cat’s Cradle is ice-nine, a form of the water molecule that is solid at room temperature. Ice-nine has its literal meaning but it goes so much deeper on a meteoric level. Ice-nine is a form of water that is solid at room temperature and causes a chain reaction with any other form of water it touches, freezing it instantly. At the surface ice-nine is a symbol for death or an atom-bomb. Ice-nine has the potential to drive humanity to its extinction almost instantly. Ice-nine makes appearances all throughout Cat’s Cradle, mostly in passing conversations and thoughts because

Felix created ice-nine not because he wanted to be responsible for creating the thing that could kill humanity. No, Felix’s socal understanding did not register that that was even a possibility. He was a neglectful father and a bad husband who only cared about his research. When the general of that army asked him to make a solution for mud in the battlefield how could he say no. Ice-nine was more of an intellectual challenge for him than it was an assignment. Scientists will create whatever they can when they have the opportunity to do so, they are just following their pursuit of knowledge. Ice-nine was an unchecked growth in science and technology. Ice-nine was unchecked and it was the end of us. Ice-nine is a symbol for the atom bomb, a very similar project that started with the research of atoms but as soon made into the most deadly weapon we have today. “New knowledge is the most powerful commodity on earth. The more truth we have to work with, the richer we become.” (Ch. 18 pg. 41) Ice-nine was new knowledge that made a few people very very rich but for the rest of us it only brought death. Ice-nine is one of the most powerful symbols in Cat’s Cradle, it depicts death the kind of death that sends a chill down your back every time you hear it. It symbolizes humanity 's search for knowledge in the way that unchecked technology is very, very dangerous. In this age of technology we must be