Cat's Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut

Like every Vonnegut novel I've ever read (this would be all five), the themes of Cat's Cradle are fairly obvious. The story is of John, the narrator, wanting to write a novel about Dr. Felix Hoenikker, one of the fathers of the nuclear bomb. John researches Felix, and in doing so ends up taking a crazy adventure with his three children. It turns out that the nuclear bomb wasn't even Felix's most dangerous invention, rather it was a substance called ice-nine, which he trusted to his children. The obvious theme is that of the fact that humans have the ability to make technology which although not intending to destroys life. Basically, our technology becomes bigger than us, and we are too stupid to properly manage it, due to a lack of moral strength, wisdom, etc, which really leads us to the argument... are humans inherently good or inherently bad?

With the conflict in Iraq, Darfur, and other global events, you can't help but wonder if left to their own devices, people will ultimately do something destructive and stupid. And if they have more money or power, the more destructive they'll be. Even on a day to day basis, this is something that occasionally gets me down... I basically have built a career on telling people what they are doing wrong, and it seems like everything I look at, I find problems, which then have to be explained, documented, argued over, etc (ah, the life of an auditor). But at the same time, I don't think that I am one of these people. If I had a money or power (speaking of which, if you know how to get me any, hook me up already), I would do bad things. I would like to think that I would do good things with my position. I think I would make moral choices. I don't think that my friends or family are inherently bad people either. Even if they didn't do good things, I don't think that they would destroy humanity as we know it either.

Anyway, back to Cat's Cradle. The book is basically the story of people equipped with very destructive technology who are terminally stupid and irresponsible. There are some compensating controls in place, such as love and a made up religion called Bokononism, but they are not strong enough to save the world from human nature.

Having laid all of this groundwork, I didn't really like this book, which is hard for me to say, because like most angst ridden high schoolers, when I was first exposed to Vonnegut, I loved Vonnegut. I like to think that the vast majority of people are inherently good, but I understand that the struggle of mankind is of that between good and evil. The main reason why I didn't like it was the fact that the story-line was unbelievably farfetched. What makes Vonnegut a good writer is that his novels generally have a tinge of reality and a high degree of absurdity. After the first few chapters, Cat's Cradle takes you right to koo-koo-ville, and that's where the novel languishes, as the Hoenikker children destroy a different planet where there is no reality. Ugh. I'm not arguing that it isn't a "good book" - obviously with the strong social commentary on nuclear weapons and stewardship, it's probably a book that every government official should be required to read, but it just didn't do it for me.

Moral of the Story: People are generally stupid, and if given half a chance, will probably do something stupid, like thinking Cat's Cradle would be a good read.

1001 Update: I have finished all four Vonnegut books on the 1001 List. Sort of disappointing that I won't get to read any more Vonnegut for a while, but maybe after Cat's Cradle, a break won't be a bad thing.