Reaction to Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s Cat's Cradle

The title is in reference to the game Newt saw his father playing the day the atomic bomb went off in Japan. Throughout the book Newt says, "No damn cat, and no damn Cradle." Thus everything we are taught is a arbitrary convention that has no meaning outside our human social constructions. Life is meaningless. Looking at a cat's cradle it is hard not to side with Newt because it is really just a bunch of X's in someone's hand, hard to see a cat or a cradle.

This conviction differs from the other view of life presented by the Bokononist's who view life as, "Busy, busy, busy..." They see life as a pattern with God constructing the design. They do not know what the plans is or how they are a part of it, they do not learn that until they die, but they can see a plan. Bokononist's also whisper this to themselves while Newt tells nearly everyone that there is no cat or cradle. Bokononist's are very happy with their foma while Newt has no use for foma and if prompted he will tell you there is no meaning to anything.

These are the two views presented in the book: either there is no meaning to anything and there is no point, or the point is foma - lie to yourself and construct a meaning out of nothingness. Newt feels that this is the meaning to life, nothing. Even when he is showing his painting off he knows it is based off perception and that is the point, everything is perception. The cat's cradle is perception at its finest. You can either take it for granted or look beyond its name to see that it really is not anything but a bunch of x's.

Taking anything at face value, like Angela's marriage, is not really seeing it at all. Nothing is what it seems, because everything is nothing. Life is nothing, relationships are nothing, and foma is nothing. Bokononism is the only thing that seems to know this and put it to good use. The people on the island are the only people who could truly embrace nothing because they had nothing. Nothing held no meaning or value to them so they needed the sweet sweet lies of Bokonon. They know life has no meaning, but there is not anything they can do about it so they might as well have some fun with it.

Other religions are based around the truth, Bokononism is based on lies. The lies do more for people than the truth ever did. These people do not see the cat or the cradle, but they have all the foma they could ever want. Discovering life is meaningless is the best way to view life because then you can stop taking the lies of others and just make your own.

Busy, busy, busy...