Effective Use of Irony and Satire in Cat's Cradle

867 Words2 Pages

Effective Use of Irony and Satire in Cat's Cradle

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut is a satire on the state of world affairs in the 1960's. Vonnegut made a commentary in this book on the tendency of humans to be warlike, belligerent, and shortsighted. The main character of the book, the narrator, is certainly not a protagonist, although the modern reader craves a hero in every story and the narrator in this one is the most likely candidate. Through the narrator's eyes, Vonnegut created a story of black humor ending in the destruction of the earth.

Vonnegut's writing style throughout the novel is very flip, light, and sarcastic. The narrator's observations and the events occurring during the novel reflect a dark view of humanity which can only be mocked by humor. At the beginning of the novel the narrator is researching for a book he is writing. The book was to be about the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and the lives of the people who created the bomb. The narrator travels through the plot of the story, with characters flying in and out, in almost a daze. He is involved in events which are helplessly beyond his control, but which are inevitably leading to a destination at the end.

The narrator's lack of control on events brings up one of the main themes of the story which is embodied in a fictitious religion invented by Vonnegut, Bokononism. Bokononism is Vonnegut's way of describing the main theme of the book, which is that no matter what anyone does, no one can possibly change the incredible stupidity of mankind. Bokononism contends that all religions (including Bokononism) are nothing but a pack of hideous lies which should be completely disregarded. Even with this self-defeating underlying...

... middle of paper ...

...s. Vonnegut points out truth in the small diversionsof life like the Boko-maru while pointing out the absurdity and falsehood of the large diversions.

The ultimate irony of the book is that no matter what religion you believe in, no matter what acts of goodness you perform, no matter what truth and beauty there is in small idiosyncrasies of life, nothing in the end can save everything from total ruin and pointlessness. The destruction of the world by ice-nine showed Vonnegut's tendency towards this pessimistic view of the world. No matter what any of the characters wished for or did, the world was destroyed all the same by some incredibly stupid and pointless force called fate, or God, who guided the entire human race through its futile and bloody history simply so one man could lie on the top of Mt. McCabe and commit suicide while thumbing his nose at God.

Show More
Related

  • Satire and Fantasy in Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle

    792 Words  | 2 Pages

    I think that the satire alone in Cat's Cradle is enough to encourage humanity to make a better world. Vonnegut makes things seem funny in the book that really are not funny in real life, such as an atom bomb, a father who ignores his child and everyone else, and an island where people are hung for practicing a certain religion. The book is amusing, but it made me think about what the world would be like if it really was that way. It would be horrible, and definitely nothing to laugh at.

    Read More

  • Relationships and Interdependence in the Works of Kurt Vonnegut

    2146 Words  | 5 Pages

    Relationships and Interdependence in the Works of Kurt Vonnegut While on the surface Kurt Vonnegut's works appear to singularly contain the pessimistic views of an aging, black humorist, his underlying meanings reveal a much more sympathetic and hopeful glimpse of humanity that lends itself to eventual societal improvement. As part of Vonnegut's strategy for enhanced communal welfare, the satirist details in the course of his works potential artificial family groups to connect the masses and alleviate the lonely.

    Read More

  • Slaughterhouse Five Ap Language Essay

    703 Words  | 2 Pages

    The tone of the first chapter of Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut is a mixture of candid and matter of fact, with an underlying tone of indifference and detachment. This tone is displayed throughout the chapter with Vonnegut’s use of informal language and phrases, such as the first sentence “All this happened, more or less.” He conveys this tone not only through phrases such as “and so on” or “so it goes”, but with stylistic elements with his use of punctuation, spaces, repetition, and ellipses. He uses this tone in the first chapter to set the audience up for how the rest of the novel will be written, and to display to the audience his style of writing and how it may not always be reliable.

    Read More

  • Morality And Christianity In Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five

    2076 Words  | 5 Pages

    Kurt Vonnegut has built a universe for Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse-Five where Billy’s cruel, unforgiving reality is contrasted by a philosophical utopia where he has learned to operate without the pains of being human. Within this self-described ‘telegraphic’ and ‘schizophrenic’ novel, Vonnegut manages to swing the reader halfway across the galaxy to a planet inhabited by a plunger-like race called the Tralfamadorians, take them into the harrowing depths of a POW camp, and show you a man who is increasingly coming undone at the seams after having lived with the psychological terrors of the Dresden bombing. He accomplishes all of this while only leaving the reader with a slight case of jet lag and hopefully a new perspective on the American

    Read More

  • Use of Satire in Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle

    496 Words  | 1 Pages

    Kurt Vonnegut said in The Vonnegut Statement (1973), in an interview with Robert Scholes, that one of his reasons for writing is "to poison minds with humanity…to encourage them to make a better world" (107). This idea works quite well in Vonnegut's book, Cat's Cradle. It is a satirical story of a man's quest to write a book about the day the world ended (refering to the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima), which he never finishes. What we get is a raw look at humans trying desperately to find a sense of purpose in their lives through different means such as religion, science, etc.

    Read More

  • Grief in Slaughterhouse Five

    610 Words  | 2 Pages

    Being an anti-war novel, his book is filled with shocking events and gruesome deaths. But Vonnegut portrays death as trivial. Every time someone dies or something bad happens, the reader might think " oh my gosh, that's awful!"

    Read More

  • The Australian Consumer Law and Consumer Guarantees

    1287 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Australian Consumer Law (ACL) was established to protect consumers in any legal trading activities in Australia. A set of guarantees has also been introduced for those consumers who are acquiring goods and services from Australian suppliers, importers or manufacturers. The guarantees are intended to ensure that consumers will receive the goods or services they have paid for. If they have problems with the products and services they bought, they are entitled for remedies, such as repair, replacement, and refund.

    Read More

  • Satire, and Black Humor in Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle

    698 Words  | 2 Pages

    Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut was written in 1963. "It is a satirical commentary on modern man and his madness" (back cover). It is a book that counters almost every aspect of our society. As well as satire, Vonnegut also includes apocalyptic elements in this novel.

    Read More

  • Human Fallibility Exposed in Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat's Cradle

    1029 Words  | 3 Pages

    Oscar Wilde, an acclaimed Irish Poet, novelist, dramatist and critic once aptly commented, “Men become old, but they never become good”. The philosophical aspect of this quote relies on the basis that human beings are inherently malevolent. Through his pessimistic perspective, Wilde clearly captures the ill-disposed mindset of mankind. Moreover, there are various deductive arguments that discredit the optimistic depiction of human nature. One of the prime examples can be found in Kurt Vonnegut’s literature. In Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat's Cradle, through the illustration of his characters, the author symbolizes the four elements of human fallibility.

    Read More

  • The Meaning of Life in Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut

    523 Words  | 2 Pages

    In his science fiction novel The Sirens of Titan, Kurt Vonnegut attempts to answer the meaning of life and ultimately comes with the answer that in order "to realize that a purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved." (220). However, giving such a straightforward and blunt answer obviously hints that Vonnegut's sarcasm to such a simple solution. Throughout the novel, Vonnegut ridicules religion and science simultaneously in order to come to the ultimate "answer" to the mankind's purpose of life.

    Read More

  • The Beliefs Of Religion In Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five

    1070 Words  | 3 Pages

    Several of Kurt Vonnegut’s novels include philosophies and/or “religions” of Vonnegut’s own invention. Take, for instance, the “latter-day Jonah” character of Malachi Constant, who serves as a Messiah for an invented religion in The Sirens of Titan (Freese 148). Also worth mentioning is the fabricated religion that exists on the poverty-stricken island of San Lorenzo, outlined in Vonnegut’s fourth novel, Cat’s Cradle (150). Although Vonnegut demonstrates similar tendencies in many other novels, one novel’s philosophy stands out in particular: Slaughterhouse-Five. Unanimously considered to be Vonnegut’s grand opus, Slaughterhouse-Five contains a philosophy that combines and fictionalizes aspects of Vonnegut’s own life—including his war experiences and spiritual beliefs—and loosely connects the two in a manner that resembles a cause-and-effect pattern.

    Read More

  • Slaughterhouse-Five Essay: Irony, Dark Humor, and Satire

    671 Words  | 2 Pages

    Kurt Vonnegut uses a combination of dark humor and irony in Slaughterhouse-Five. As a result, the novel enables the reader to realize the horrors of war while simultaneously laughing at some of the absurd situations it can generate. Mostly, Vonnegut wants the reader to recognize the fact that one has to accept things as they happen because no one can change the inevitable.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of A Man Without A Country By Kurt Vonnegut

    945 Words  | 2 Pages

    His novel lets the reader get personal with Vonnegut. The novel lets readers know his thoughts on such controversial topics.He is not your typical author. He talks about topics most do not even speak about with their families in worry that it would cause a fight.The topics he covers sets him apart from every other author. He is not afraid to speak his mind, to let people know his views. Kurt Vonnegut is not afraid to be himself and that is what makes his novel so extraordinary. Vonnegut shows that he is not a religious man and does not trust the government that is claimed to be corrupt. He shows that he has lost all hope in humanity because of how much the human race has destroyed the earth. That is why on page eighty-seven he states, “So I am a man without a

    Read More

  • Comparing Themes in Cat’s Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five

    1891 Words  | 4 Pages

    One of the most prevalent themes in Vonnegut’s works is religion. In the early pages of Cat’s Cradle, Vonnegut submits his contention that "a useful religion can be founded on lies (Vonnegut, Cats Cradle 16)," meaning that, fundamentally, religion is about people, not about faith or God. Reminiscent of Karl Marx’s description of religion as the "opiate of the masses," he describes all religions as mere collections of "harmless untruths" that help people cope with their lives. The Book of Bokonon in Cat's Cradle represents this portrait of religion at both its dreariest and its most uplifting, Bokononism is contradictory, paradoxical, and founded on lies; its followers are aware of this...

    Read More

  • Relation Between Advertising and Our Consumer Culture

    2541 Words  | 6 Pages

    Mooij, M.de. (2004). Consumer Behavior and Culture, Sage Publications, Page 102, Page 119, Page 274, Page 275

    Read More

More about Effective Use of Irony and Satire in Cat's Cradle

Open Document