A)
I believe that cats cradle serves as a useful message much more than a positive one. In both the speech and in the book, Vonnegut mentions how everyone is sure to die (machine guns that spray death and ice nine) its just how you go about your life that matters. It is not a positive message because Vonnegut is not meaning to convey that life short, he is conveying that your life is probably going to suck but your death is going to suck worse. In Cats Cradle, he expresses, through Jonah, how little hope one could have.
Book 14 of Bokononism
What could a thoughtful man hope for Mankind given the experience of the past Million Years?
Nothing.
This expresses how hopeless Vonnegut sees mankind and the world, which is also expressed through his speech via statements such as
"I know that millions of dollars have been spent to produce this splendid graduating class, and that the main hope of your teachers was, once they got through with you, that you would no longer be superstitious. I'm sorry—I have to undo that now. I beg you to believe in the most ridiculous superstition of all: that humanity is at the center of the universe, the fulfiller or the frustrator of the grandest dreams of God Almighty.
If you can believe that, and make others believe it, then there might be hope for us. Human beings might stop treating each other like garbage, might begin to treasure and protect each other instead. Then it might be all right to have babies again."
B)
Rule #1:
Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
I believe that cats cradle serves as a useful message much more than a positive one. In both the speech and in the book, Vonnegut mentions how everyone is sure to die (machine guns that spray death and ice nine) its just how you go about your life that matters. It is not a positive message because Vonnegut is not meaning to convey that life short, he is conveying that your life is probably going to suck but your death is going to suck worse. In Cats Cradle, he expresses, through Jonah, how little hope one could have.
Book 14 of Bokononism
What could a thoughtful man hope for Mankind given the experience of the past Million Years?
Nothing.
This expresses how hopeless Vonnegut sees mankind and the world, which is also expressed through his speech via statements such as
"I know that millions of dollars have been spent to produce this splendid graduating class, and that the main hope of your teachers was, once they got through with you, that you would no longer be superstitious. I'm sorry—I have to undo that now. I beg you to believe in the most ridiculous superstition of all: that humanity is at the center of the universe, the fulfiller or the frustrator of the grandest dreams of God Almighty.
If you can believe that, and make others believe it, then there might be hope for us. Human beings might stop treating each other like garbage, might begin to treasure and protect each other instead. Then it might be all right to have babies again."
B)
Rule #1:
Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
This rule refers to to author writing to the reader. Vonnegut's books tend to be quick reads, especially Cats Cradle. While this was an assignment so I HAD to read, I am glad I did. My time did not feel wasted in doing so. By writing in such an amicable manner, that draws the reader in, Vonnegut can get the story across easily and coherently, and the same goes for the themes in the book.
Rule #6
Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
Out of all 8 rules, this is the one that Vonnegut follows most closely. Even if the characters do not move on, survive, the reader still, through indirect characterization, gets a sense of their person. For example, when the old couple died with the falling bit of fortress, the faced it hand in hand, and we as readers knew that they were strong, and that they had accepted their fate. The use of this, throughout Cat's Cradle, he enhances the characterization and the plot. As awful things befalling the character assists in the plot, as well as the point that society is pretty much evil, vonneguts use of sadism is key to the book as a whole.
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