Satire Saturdays: Cat’s Cradle

The generation of Kurt Vonnegut had experienced one of the most inhuman conflicts in human history first hand. Born in 1922 he served in the United States Army as an intelligence scout and was taken as a prisoner of war by the Germans at the Battle of Bulge. A ‘Nuclear Attack’ frenzy always gripped that generation as is clearly visible in his highly acclaimed novel “Cat’s Cradle”.

The narrator of the novel Jonah introduces himself as a journalist who is writing a book called “The Day the World Ended”, a book about the world after the atomic bombs were dropped over Japan. And so he starts his research with Nobel Laureate physicist Late Felix Hoenikker one of the co-creators of the Atom Bomb. This research takes the narrator at first to Ilium, New York where Felix worked at a company called General Forge and Foundry Company. He intended to interview his acquaintances, friends, family members, and co-workers.

What the narrator learns about the family at Ilium is not only bizarre but highly repulsive at the first instance. The reader is informed that though Felix was an extraordinary scientist, he was also a man who was always engrossed in his own world. Not only was he a negligent husband but also negligent father, always self-centred and lost in his own world. Instances like tipping one’s own wife for a cup of coffee, or Felix’s decision to take his daughter out of school after the death of his wife so that his household needs are tended without any hindrance — paint a picture of a criminally negligent father who is in no way capable of discharging his societal duties as a father or as a husband.

The pursuit of further details leads the narrator to the island of San Lorenzo, which is governed by the dictator “Papa” Monzano, where the native religion of Bokononism is outlawed and Christian faith is encouraged. But all hell breaks loose as the dictator commits suicide by consuming Ice-nine, the latest invention of Felix which can turn water into ice of a higher boiling point by changing the crystalline structure of ice. The body which is all ice falls into the ocean — freezing all the oceans of the earth and triggering tornadoes and drastic climate change.

The author not only comments subtly on what weaponization of science can lead to but also touches upon all other ills this humankind has. Ranging from political bias, religious intolerance and aspirations from marriage, to things like the presence of propaganda in politics, and the habit of politicians to never resort to a permanent solution of problems.

Things like human aspirations from love, attention, and respect also find due coverage. Philosophies like everything being futile and meaningless are also touched upon.

But the most remarkable thing about “Cat’s Cradle” is it covers almost everything this present human civilization is about.

This book is for anybody who wants to read postmodern fiction. This is an excellent starting point and is highly recommended.

This story is part of “Satire Saturdays!”, a new series by BeetleBox on the greatest, funniest, out of this world satire of this world.

Special thanks to Sagarika Sundi and Anamika Sundi .

Author: Aman Mukherjee

Editor and Illustrator: Yatharth Bhasin

Design Resources: Freepik