Cat's Cradle

Author's name: Kurt Wingott

Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle discusses science and technology and their relationship to religion in a satirical, humorous style. Vonnegut earned his master's degree in anthropology for this novel after his dissertation topics were rejected. The narrator, John (or Jonah), says at the beginning of the novel that he decided to write a book called "The Day the World Ended," in which he investigates what some famous people in the United States did on the day Hiroshima was bombed. Through his investigations, he meets the children of Felix Hoenikker, a fictitious Nobel Prize laureate in physics and a contributor to nuclear research. As the novel progresses, John learns about a substance called "ice-nine," invented by Felix Hoenikker just days before his death, and of which each of his three children secretly keeps a piece. Ice-Nine is a type of ice with a special crystalline structure. It remains solid at room temperature, but if it comes into contact with water, it freezes into ice-nine. John and Felix Honecker's children gather on the Caribbean island of San Lorenzo, one of the world's poorest countries, ruled by a fictional dictator called "Papa" Monzano. John learns about the island's history and culture from a book lent him by his neighbor on the plane to San Lorenzo. He reads about the island's Bokonon religion, a religion that combines sarcastic observations about the world and God's will, and its strange yet peaceful rituals. This religion is banned on the island under penalty of death. John discovers that San Lorenzo society is more bizarre than it first appears, and all of its inhabitants are secret Bokononists. John meets Frank, Felix Honecker's son, who has received a high position in the San Lorenzo government from its governor in exchange for a piece of Ice-Nine. When John arrives, the island's governor, "Papa" Monzano, is suffering from terminal cancer and appoints Frank Honecker as his successor. Frank, however, is reluctant to assume power and persuades John to accept the island's presidency in his place.