Religious Allusions in Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle

1439 Words3 Pages

Kurt Vonnegut’s fictional novel “Cat’s Cradle”, indirectly explores issues that parallels into topics such as religion, scientific/technological advancements, political power and much more. Vonnegut’s novel is narrated by a character named Jonah (John). He, Jonah, sets out to write an anthropological book based off of what key people were doing on the day that the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Throughout Vonnegut’s novel it can clearly represents how a writer can become a very destructive person to society. As for this novel, it shows through the uses of parallels that a writer can become a very destructive person to society, these parallels are reflects to real world issues throughout his novel to show this claim, that a writer too can be a destructive person to society.
In Vonnegut’s novel, readers can notice that there are numerous religious references such as names and terms throughout it. In the opening of the novel it can already be seen. Vonnegut starts his novel off with the narrator introducing himself, “Call me Jonah. My parents did, or nearly did. They called me John.” (Vonnegut 1). From this opening line you can already see a biblical reference, that reference being “Jonah”. The name Jonah derives from the Hebrew bible, it’s known to be the name of a prophet who disobeyed God. Already early on in the novel it can be seen that a parallel between religion and the post-war world which the story take place in are intertwining. It can be assumed that by the author uses of the reference Jonah, a disobedient prophet of god, that the novel also revolves around the theme of deception among people in society. Deception implicated among person to another can lead to creating destruction in society. If one such as a writ...

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... a false belief, rather than a sure fire finding. Overall writers can be misleading society, which causes them to be a potentially destructive person of society.

Works Cited

Vonnegut, Kurt. Cat's Cradle. New York, N.Y.: ELL PUBLISHING CO., 1963. Print

The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "ileum (anatomy)." Encyclopedia
Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 5 May 2014.

The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "vitamin B12 (chemical compound)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 5 May 2014.

"Historic Figures: Isaac Newton" BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 5 May 2014. .

"Dubious Truths: An Examination of Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle." Article: Dubious Truths: An Examination of Vonnegut's Cats Cradle, by David Michael Wharton. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 May 2014.

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