Independent+Novel+Studies

Cat's Cradle Jounal Entry Number One, Pages 1-64

1) Why did you select this novel? I went through the whole bookshelf and saw that i've already read a lot of the books there, but when I saw the cat's cradle I was compelled to read it. Kurt Vonnegut is my brother's favorite author by far, I've heard him talk about Kurt so many times and he was always so moved by the books Kurt wrote. I was up for something new, a change for once so I went and bought the book and instantly my brother came up to me and sarted talking about Kurt. His style of writing: It was too be a Christian book. I was a Christian then. I am a Bokononist now.

3) What has happened before the novel began? The main events that happened before the book was written were that the second world war had finished with the United States dropping atom bombs on Japan, so the author is writing about the Scientist that created the atomic bomb in the actual book and he asks all the people the scientist worked with to gather as much information as possible about Dr. Hoenniker, the scientist. Its as if he were a detective trying to put a puzzle together by gathering all the pieces but instead he says he's writing a book with information n the bomb inside.

20) Is the novel believable? I think the novel is believable so far in the fact that it hasn't said anything rediculously crazy like aliens or anything. It has been primarily talking about the atomic bombs that hit and the scientist that created it alongside a new religion the author wishes to create called Bokononism.

Cat's Cradle Journal Entry Number Two, pages 64-124

8) The author held my interest by using suspense, i was so interested in the story and the concepts i could not let go of the book, the events that will happen are going to be crazy, ice-9 could potentially end the entire life of the planet freezing all the water for an unknown amount of time, probably forever. We don't know what the author will do with the ice-9 if he finds it neither do we know what he intends to do with it.

21) The novel as well as other Kurt Vonnegut books(as i have heard) are quite humorous but he uses crude humor so i would suggest it to some people but definitely not people who can't stand crude humor. His writing style is quite unique and i love it personally.

12) The language used is quite simple but there are things in the book you have to assume like the religion of bokononism doesn't actually exist and other words he invented. He defines these words by giving examples of the words but overall the language isn't incredibly hard to read.

Cat's Cradle Journal Entry Number Three, pages 124-150

10) I think a lot of small unexpected things happen in this story such as the protagonist meeting people of high government ranking(ambassador/country leaders). They aren't really big events that would completely change the story line but it is still quite unexpected.

22) I expected a story about someone trying to do something really revolutionary to the earth but we really can't tell what the protagonist is up to right now, maybe he is trying to obtain the ice-9 and freeze the earth's water solid, maybe he's trying to just create his new religion and expand on it, he speaks in first person but he doesn't tell u exactly what he's going to do.

7) In the beginning of the book the protagonist was trying to obtain a large base of information about the father of the atom bomb so he could put it in his book. This leads to a series of interesting events.

Notes: I think the author is trying to just introduce a group of people to the readers of the book in these few chapters. They were all on a plane to go to "San Lorenzo" s Christian city where laws are extremely strict and everything is punishable by "the hook".

Cat's Cradle Journal Entry Number Four, 150-216

18) Well in this story the plot was painted with a lot of just pure luck, the main character was just roaming around going wherever he could to find out more about the father of the atomic bomb, information drove him forward, it had him at the bedside of a dying leader of a country in the end of page 215. It just loosely fit together, love was a huge part of the story line that drove him to this foreign country.

19) There were a lot of small things that were conveyed in the story that were written plain and simple, but the big message is quite obscured i think since its all fictional and seemingly pointless. I think if there were to be a message that this story was to convey, it would be to think for yourself, not to let religions drive you insane by forcing you to believe in everything they say. Make your own religion and your own beliefs. Or better yet "Create your own luck".

6) The setting is a fictional country called San Lorenzo, it's a "City of Christians" but in reality the only Christian in the city is the President. Even the President's daughter isn't even Christian. It's just another fictional country with one outlaw, that only the President wants dead, the setting could be changed without much difficulty. There isn't much that concerns the setting.

Cat's Cradle Journal Entry Number Five, 150-216

13) This novel is definitely not for kids, no kid would want to read this book. It's about the end of the world, it would scare them to death. Kids won't really get the meaning of most of the things in things in this book either. I think this book is aimed towards an older audience since it deals with mature subjects and language that is at times hard to understand for younger people.

15) There are a lot f new characters that are introduced in this story (approximately 20). They're introduced into the plot either because they will appear as a big element in the future or will lead the main character to the next step in the path.

16) I think the climax is when the President of San Lorenzo dies the ice freezes the world over completely. That is the main thing that happens, you learn that the ice nine was spread all over the world and the world was going to end sooner or later.

Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut Characterization - January 7, 2012

For my focus assignment i chose to characterize a very special person in the book. He is the creator of a new religion that was outcast by the President of a fictional country called San Lorenzo. Although he was made a wanted man, everyone in that country sought out his religion and followed it to the last sliver of life they had. They called him Bokonon, and they called his religion Bokononism. Bokonon appears only once in the entire book and the author described him as old, bearded, and very wise looking. He primarily teaches Bokononism in an unknown place on some unknown mountain. Occasionally he is asked for advice, but he himself is known for not taking his own advice. An example of this is at the end of the story when people ask him what to do, he responds by saying to kill yourself, but he himself does not die until the end of the book. He thinks very critically and it's as if he doesn't care what happens to the world around him, he adapts and moves on. I really don't think he would be a good friend since he really doesn't care about anything that goes on around him, he won't feel compassion towards anything on this planet, he only feels emotion at the end of the story to demonstrate how much he dislikes other religions. I personally really like this person even if he isn't friendly, he reminds me of my brother, he's almost like a reflection of myself when i really think about it, even though this book was written in the late "60s". The way Bokonon thinks is quite unique, he believes certain things from just plain thinking about it from what i can tell.

media type="custom" key="12101149"