Cat's Cradle and Postmodernism
Well, there is not much information given in the first seven chapters that can inform the reader of how this book illustrates postmodernism. But i did manage to find a couple examples that I thought represented postmodernism.
First, The Books of Bokonon declares that "all of the true things I am about to tell you are shameless lies" (14). So Bokononism is based entirely on false information but one has wonder how a religion that calls itself a lie can have such inspiration and devotion on others. But at the same time Vonnegut emphasizes that the main purpose of a religion is to bring meaning and purpose to life. So it being a lie has no part in religion. It is mainly the illusion that provides meaning and purpose to life. They believe that everything that happens in life is "meant to happen" and is God's will. So this post modernistic view helps explain how religion plays no part in one's life and is only there to provide an illusion of faith.
Also, Felix Hoenikker is portrayed as being so ignorant. This is shown through him asking "what is sin" (21). So in a way, he felt that he did not play any part in helping create the atomic bomb and portrays selfish and is just doing his job. He is just serving the society and in a way is forced to do that. Also, he is ignorant of his moral responsibilities and his responsibilities as being a father. He only viewed his wife as only a caretaker and even tips her after she makes breakfast. Later, this is handed down to his daughter who takes care of the whole family. He does not have a good relationship with his kids and takes no interest in them. This portrays postmodernism because just like Brave New World, they form no kind of relationship or attachment. They are individuals and do not belong to anyone else.
Overall, I think that once we are more into the book, this concept with become more clear because at this time, I am not understanding how this book portrays postmodernism very well.
First, The Books of Bokonon declares that "all of the true things I am about to tell you are shameless lies" (14). So Bokononism is based entirely on false information but one has wonder how a religion that calls itself a lie can have such inspiration and devotion on others. But at the same time Vonnegut emphasizes that the main purpose of a religion is to bring meaning and purpose to life. So it being a lie has no part in religion. It is mainly the illusion that provides meaning and purpose to life. They believe that everything that happens in life is "meant to happen" and is God's will. So this post modernistic view helps explain how religion plays no part in one's life and is only there to provide an illusion of faith.
Also, Felix Hoenikker is portrayed as being so ignorant. This is shown through him asking "what is sin" (21). So in a way, he felt that he did not play any part in helping create the atomic bomb and portrays selfish and is just doing his job. He is just serving the society and in a way is forced to do that. Also, he is ignorant of his moral responsibilities and his responsibilities as being a father. He only viewed his wife as only a caretaker and even tips her after she makes breakfast. Later, this is handed down to his daughter who takes care of the whole family. He does not have a good relationship with his kids and takes no interest in them. This portrays postmodernism because just like Brave New World, they form no kind of relationship or attachment. They are individuals and do not belong to anyone else.
Overall, I think that once we are more into the book, this concept with become more clear because at this time, I am not understanding how this book portrays postmodernism very well.
November 4, 2009 at 9:01 PM
Ravioli. Hahaha. Well I must say, I completely agree with your first example and that was a well written paragraph. So kudos to you. I also agree with you when you said that Postmodernism is trying to tell us that religion is only there to provide you an illusion of faith. And that is how Bokononists base their religion off of. So I think you did a really good job in explaining that. On the other hand, I am kind of iffy with your second paragraph. I think you did a good job in analyzing Felix Hoenikker, but I am not quite seeing how it ties into Postmodernism themes. And I think your last two sentences of that paragraph kind of contradicted themselves because all the individuals in Brave New World belonged to everyone else. But I am not seeing that connection to Postmodernism. Well, you did a nice job overall though so keep it up :)
November 5, 2009 at 10:25 PM
Okay, so I totally agree with your first little comment. Since the blog was only about the first seven chapters I didn’t think it portrayed much postmodernism ideas. So I though it was a little hard to work on a postmodernism blog for the book. However, I did find some examples of postmodernism here and there. Like you I did have something to say about Felix Hoenikker and his attitude towards others and just about everything. I though hew showed the biggest postmodernism characteristics like having no real emotions toward anything except his work. He didn’t show his children any love or care, but kind of just handed them off to his oldest daughter. The only thing he seemed to be interested in was how he can attain more knowledge about science day by day. It seemed like the only time he was distracted from that was when he was interested in other little things like turtles. Anyway, that was just a little something I wanted to say about Felix Hoenikker.