Summary Of Cat's Cradle By Kurt Vonnegut

Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut was just as confusing as it was interesting. “Anyone unable to understand how useful religion can be founded on lies will not understand this book either” (Vonnegut, 14) is the sentence that outlines the entire book and informs the reader of how this book is going to cause them to think about topics they would not frequently focus on; such as a religion being founded on lies, but people still believe in it, even though they know it is not true. This novel follows the journey of Jonah who somehow falls headfirst into the religion of Bokononism. This religion of lies was created by a man named Bokonon. Jonah’s biography on the inventor of the atomic bomb leads him to San Lorenzo, where everyone practices this religion, but no one is allowed to do so. Although Bokononism is outlawed on the island,

He was often quoted saying the universe is a “big damn mess”, his satirical nature allowed him to laugh at the terrible things that happened to him throughout his life. While growing up in the Great Depression, he watched his father waste away and returned home from war on Mother’s Day only to find that his mother had committed suicide the night before. During this war, he was captured in Germany and survived a bombing that killed hundreds of thousands of people. After witnessing this and the devastating fate of his family, he, much like other depressed war survivors began questioning God and religion. Most likely, this is what led to him writing Cat’s Cradle. Bokonon, states that if he were younger, he would leave this world by making “a statue of myself, lying on my back, grinning horribly, and thumbing my nose at You Know Who” (Vonnegut, 191). Because Bokonon created a religion of lies, it would only make sense that he would die while displaying his defiance against his