Harrison Bergeron And Cat's Cradle

“I really wonder what gives us the right to wreck this poor planet of ours” (biography.com) sums up the satirical ideas of renowned author, Kurt Vonnegut. Kurt Vonnegut was a popular writer who excelled in writing about the stupidity and ignorance of mankind. His extremely odd and fortunate life played an influential role in developing his writing style. In due time, Kurt Vonnegut became one of the most eminent satirical writers of his time and was quite perceptible in two of his works, “Harrison Bergeron” and Cat’s Cradle. Kurt Vonnegut led an adventurous and interesting life, which greatly contributed to his writing style that made his works so enjoyable. Kurt Vonnegut was born on November 11, 1922 in the city of Indianapolis, Indiana where

For Cat’s Cradle, one of the most major themes of the story is the need for lies in our society. In the story, John realizes how Bokononism was secretly in an alliance with the President of San Lorenzo, yet Bokonon was still labeled as an outlaw. The people of San Lorenzo, however, needed these lies to function and to live their everyday lives. John saw how the government fed them lies everyday, but Bokonon “made it his business to provide the people with better and better lies”(Vonnegut). Without having an outlaw to go against the terrible government they are living under, the people would have no hope and no motivation to go on with life. Another crucial theme was that family is more important than work. Felix Hoenikker was a famous scientist, but his family life was disarrayed emotionally. He had absolutely no personal bonds with any of his children, making him an empty figure in their lives, which affected them in the long run. John was able to see the carelessness of each child during the time they had possession of Ice-9, which led to world-threatening mistakes. Eventually, “the moist green earth was a blue-white pearl”(Vonnegut) due to the irresponsible children who never had a parent in their lives to teach them any better. This theme highlights the importance of family above all

Perhaps one of the only key themes in this short story was the idea that humanity would suffer greatly with limitations. At the beginning, there is clearly an expressed opinion that equality was good and people “weren’t only equal before God and the law”(Vonnegut). Everybody in modern society is obsessed with the idea of being equal with some other person, due to minimal things such as jealousy. However, nobody has taken the time to actually ponder on the idea of an equal world. If the world were an equal place, there would be no people like Leonardo da Vinci or Isaac Newton and this would mean there would be no advances in society in any aspect. Every single person would have the same intelligence, beauty, and strength level. With no variables in our lives, life itself would turn into a meaningless pit of despair.

Although the plots and themes of Cat’s Cradle and “Harrison Bergeron” were different, they carried many other aspects that were similar. They both satirized society and its ideals and provided scenarios with gruesome details, all which led to fatalities on certain levels. Being written by the same author, there are multiple apparent similarities between these two stories that can be