Why Does Vonnegut Use Satire In Cat's Cradle

Examine the dangerous jokes that that form the bassis of the book. How does the author use satire to critique the idiocies and short comings of his contemporary world?
The real purpose behind Vonnegut’s writings is “to poison minds with humanity … to encourage them to make a better world”. This is the author’s idiocies and short comings of his contemporary world and uses dangerous jokes in the form of black humour as well as other satirical techniques such that; Vonnegut is in a way, holding a mirror in humanity’s face to allow humanity to understand their own weaknesses and attempt to improve. Vonnegut’s hope in the book is to allow people to laugh at their own idiocies through black humour, challenging their sense of direction in specific …show more content…
Of the numerous idiocies and short comings of the contemporary world, science and more so the search for the truth was one of the foremost simply because the time when Vonnegut wrote the book was a time for numerous scientific discoveries and progressions; the most prominent being the discovery and use of the hydrogen atom bomb. When it fell, many called it the ‘end of the world’ and the very use of the atom bomb on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945, eighteen years before the writing of the book, is the core of the premise of Cat’s Cradle. Cat’s Cradle is a tale of a man’s journey to write about the day the atom bomb fell, which he never ends, but instead learns of the short comings of the human race through interaction with new religions and scientific beliefs. The method Vonnegut chose for mocking scientific belief was prominently along the lines of the use of black humour and analogy; which he uses to great effect to highlight the fact that the truth that science uncovers will ultimately crush the human race. Taken further, Vonnegut expresses right with the beginning of the book that truth and science are inexplicably linked and inevitably, the truth will swallow the human race. The book begins off with the line “Call me …show more content…
He particularly uses the fictional religion of Bokononism and again the quote “Call me Jonah….They called me John” to highlight the fallacy in the belief, following and creation of religion as well as the saving grace which religion possesses. The name of John may be intended to echo that of two Biblical prophets, John the Baptist and John of Patmos. The former foretold the coming of Christ and ended up dead for his troubles. The latter saw elaborate visions of the end of the world but did not truly understand them. The John of Cat’s Cradle is also a prophet of the latter type as he does not truly understand the end of the world. But, he makes attempts to do so under the cover of Bokononism which claims to find some workings in the world when really there aren’t any. The book makes numerous allusions and references to Bokononism and gives background behind Bokononism to allow the reader to see the weaknesses in all types of religion and the true reason for their existence. Bokonon is the founder, leader and ‘Messiah’ of this religious system and it is his open cynicism and blatant lying that makes Bokononism so easily acceptable for almost all the character’s in the book including John. Bokonon arrived on San Lorenzo naked and supposedly reborn after