Essay On Cat's Cradle By Kurt Vonnegut
Life is a Work of Art
“Live by the foma that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy.” The novel Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut imposes the question of whether truth shows the true goodness of existence or if lies cover the “awful truth.” The novel also pushes the reader to come to their sense of what art is, as well as their view of the world. Does art tell the truth, or does art tell a big lie? Is the world good, or is the world evil? There are two points of view given in the novel. The first point of view is that art tells the truth about the goodness of existence, and the second point of view is that art tells a lie to hide the “awful truth” of existence in order to make life bearable. Through his writing, it seems that Vonnegut was …show more content…
Whichever way one looks into this argument, and no matter how one attempts to decipher the issue, the conclusion is always the same. The world is neither good or evil because it all depends on perception. Based on past experiences, one may think of the world in one certain way that differs from how others think of the world. One may see the world as a bitter place and view art as a way to make life more bearable. For some artists that may be their whole purpose of creating; they create to bring others happiness. In the novel, Jonah states his opinion on the issue by saying, “When a man becomes a writer, I think he takes on a sacred obligation to produce beauty and enlightenment and comfort at top speed,” where Philip Castle replies, “For the love of God, both of you, please keep writing!” This specific way of viewing the whole of existence is solely based off negative experience. A naturally happy person who sees the natural world only positively has either not been through many bad experiences, or has been through many but uses his past experiences to better his current perception of the world around
“Live by the foma that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy.” The novel Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut imposes the question of whether truth shows the true goodness of existence or if lies cover the “awful truth.” The novel also pushes the reader to come to their sense of what art is, as well as their view of the world. Does art tell the truth, or does art tell a big lie? Is the world good, or is the world evil? There are two points of view given in the novel. The first point of view is that art tells the truth about the goodness of existence, and the second point of view is that art tells a lie to hide the “awful truth” of existence in order to make life bearable. Through his writing, it seems that Vonnegut was …show more content…
Whichever way one looks into this argument, and no matter how one attempts to decipher the issue, the conclusion is always the same. The world is neither good or evil because it all depends on perception. Based on past experiences, one may think of the world in one certain way that differs from how others think of the world. One may see the world as a bitter place and view art as a way to make life more bearable. For some artists that may be their whole purpose of creating; they create to bring others happiness. In the novel, Jonah states his opinion on the issue by saying, “When a man becomes a writer, I think he takes on a sacred obligation to produce beauty and enlightenment and comfort at top speed,” where Philip Castle replies, “For the love of God, both of you, please keep writing!” This specific way of viewing the whole of existence is solely based off negative experience. A naturally happy person who sees the natural world only positively has either not been through many bad experiences, or has been through many but uses his past experiences to better his current perception of the world around