Just finished "Cat's Cradle" by Kurt Vonnegut, my third Vonnegut of the year (I've read Slaughterhouse-5 and Mother Night already). And what a book, what a brilliant mind Vonnegut has to make us think about the core of humanity while giving us the most random scifi stories.

For those who haven't read, the book is about Jonah, an author who wants to write a book about the day the first atomic bomb was dropped, but not about Japan or the American government - he wants to write about the day of the scientist who invented the bomb (a fake character, not one of the actually real life scientists). This is the background only for a short part of the book, as Vonnegut then takes us on an adventure through a "banana republic" (somewhat based on Guatemala with United Fruit, or any Latin American country exploited by US companies) and ice-9, a chemical that freezes all water it touches.

In my interpretation of the book, there are quite a few key criticisms made by Vonnegut, which I would like to discuss within this community:

  1. The book criticizes intelligence without morals; like the fathers of the atomic bomb who were so focused on the science part that they didn't care much about the moral consequences. The same happens with the invention of ice-9, which was invented to solve the problem with the Marines and quite literally ends up killing all humanity. The book was written at the peak of the Cold War, just months after the Cuban missile crisis, which I think influenced this whole thing. More broadly, the book is a criticism of humanity, who is always trying to destroy itself; the more progress we make, the more likely we will just all kill each other.
  2. There's a big criticism of colonialism and exploitation by western countries of Latin American countries. I think this one is quite a obvious conclusion. Guatemala v. United Fruit Company (now Chiquita) was happening as the book was being written. San Lorenzo being a nation with basically no government that was taken over by a fruit company owned by Julian Castle's family is not a subtle comparison, and in true Vonnegut way, he uses absurdity to criticize real life.
  3. The most interesting issue touched by Vonnegut is the weaponisation of religion for control. Bokononism is a made up religion that is openly made up of lies. But still, it's the only thing giving hope to the people of San Lorenzo. It's mentioned several times throughout the book that colonization (or whatever you want to call it) led to no progress in the lives of San Lorenzians. They were still hungry, poor, overworked. But the government used religion (and the prohibition of religion) to control the population. It's a very interesting dynamic between the government and the religion, one I will be thinking about for a long time.
  4. Criticism of patriotism/nationalism. Finally, I think it's fair to say that several of the side characters who consider that being American is their kavass, their group of connected people, are examples of Vonnegut's criticism of blind patriotism. Being born in the same country doesn't connect people, says Vonnegut, it's just an arbitrary connection.

Now, Im curious about everyone's thoughts. For me, it's becoming harder and harder to choose a favourite Vonnegut book, this man was a genious.

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