Conner, Rachel

AP English, 1B
March 18, 2009

In Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, the cynical diction, austere imagery, and the

brusque syntax help to convey the theme that religion is a foolish necessity and the

author’s sardonic attitude towards the subject of religion. Cat’s Cradle follows the

journey of Jonah, a journalist attempting to write a book about the day the first atomic

bomb was dropped on Japan. “As it happened—‘As it was supposed to happen’”

(Vonnegut 86), Jonah slogs his way through the mystery of religion before reaching his

epiphany and subsequent conversion to Bokononism, an outlawed practice, on the

hopeless island of San Lorenzo.

First, the sarcastic diction shows the author’s antipathy for religion and his

reluctant acceptance of religion’s validity. Through the character of Jonah, Vonnegut

expresses his disgust of Christianity and its claim of truth. During a conversation Jonah

has with a scientist, the scientist says, “New knowledge is the most valuable commodity

on earth. The more truth we have to work with, the richer we become” (Vonnegut 41).

Jonah writes, “Had I been a Bokononist then, that statement would have made me howl”

(Vonnegut 41). This is because, as a Bokononist, Jonah believes that no one can know the

absolute truth. Jonah has this to say about a devout Episcopalian: “She was a fool, and so

am I, and so is anyone who thinks he sees what God is Doing” (Vonnegut 5). Bokonon,

founder of Bokononism, says this: “All of the true things I am about to tell you are

shameless lies” (Vonnegut 5). Jonah explains, saying, “Anyone unable to understand how

a useful religion can be founded on lies will not understand this book either” (Vonnegut
6). However, San Lorenzan citizen, Julian Castle offers the following testimony in favor

of religion:

Well, when it became evident that no governmental or

economic reform was going to make the people much less
miserable, the religion became the one real instrument of
hope. Truth was the enemy of the people, because the truth
was so terrible, so Bokonon made it his business to provide
the people with better and better lies. (Vonnegut 172)

Despite the author’s disgust with organized religion, he gives evidence of its usefulness

in the case of San Lorenzo. Without the “bittersweet lies of Bokonon” (Vonnegut 2) the

islanders would have allowed themselves to be overcome with apathy.

Next, the imagery in Cat’s Cradle is very somber and grave. The author uses the

grotesque penalty given to Bokononists combined with the peoples’ blind trust in their

faith to voice his opinion that religion is foolish. Inhabitants of San Lorenzo caught

practicing Bokononism are executed on the hook:

And then they take a great big kind of iron fishhook and
they hang it down from the cross beam. Then they take
somebody who’s dumb enough to break the law, and they
put the point of the hook in through on side of his belly and
out the other and they let him go—and there he hangs, by
God, one damn sorry law-breaker. (Vonnegut 94)

In this statement, the imagery is made even grimmer by its understatement. In spite of

this horrid sentence the entire population of San Lorenzo practices Bokononism. In the

author’s opinion following the religion is idiocy because the consequence of faith is

death. Why would people follow a religion based on lies when the punishment was
painful death? When Bokonon arrived on San Lorenzo he saw how hopeless the natives

were, just as Jonah did:

Five thousand or more San Lorenzans stared at us. The

islanders were oatmeal colored. The people were thin.
There wasn’t a fat person to be seen. Every person had
teeth missing. Many legs were bowed or swollen…A
military band stood at attention before the crowd. It did not
play. (Vonnegut 136)

Bokonon offered his made-up religion as an instrument of hope. Even though

Bokononism is complete lunacy, it served a purpose for the natives of San Lorenzo. The

forbidden religion added an element of danger to their lives that renewed their will to

live.

Finally, the terse syntax in the novel shows the author’s frustration with religion

and his lukewarm endorsement of it. Through the use of short, simple sentences,

Christianity is portrayed in an unfavorable light. Jonah writes, “It was to be a Christian

book. I was a Christian then. I am a Bokononist now” (Vonnegut 1). The curt sentences

have a sneering undertone: Jonah was a Christian, but he is better now. Now he is a

Bokononist, one of the enlightened. The idea that Bokononism is superior is seen

throughout the novel because Jonah interjects the story with the ideas of Bokonon, such

as “Ah, God, what an ugly city every city is!” (Vonnegut 27) or “Miss Faust was ripe for

Bokononism” (Vonnegut 54). These inserts usually come at the end of the chapter as a

one-sentence paragraph. They are the final thoughts, the summary of all that has

happened. The supremacy of Bokononism is also shown by the following conversation:

 “Zah-mah-ki-bo.”
“What?”
“It’s a Bokononist word.”
“I don’t know any Bokononist words” (Vonnegut 184).

Jonah is the ignorant one who uses simple language because he does not understand. He

is speaking to a Bokononist who uses simple language because he does understand, and is

explaining as if speaking to a child. The same examples can be used to demonstrate the

theme that religion, under some circumstances, is acceptable, even if it only serves to fool

people into hoping. Bokononism is an acceptable religion because it does not pretend to

be the truth. About his own religion Bokonon says, “Foma! Lies! A pack of foma!”

(Vonnegut 191). Foma are lies. However, if it were not for the inhabitants of San

Lorenzo, even Bokononism would be senseless.

In conclusion, Kurt Vonnegut uses the narrator of Cat’s Cradle to identify his

aversion to religion through his diction, imagery, and syntax. The overall theme of the

novel is that although religion is for idiots, it serves the purpose of filling the void in

peoples’ lives. Men and women who are not religious try to fill the void with money,

relationships, sports, and many other things. Vonnegut suggests that religion may be the

only way to fill the void permanently, if only because the believers have total blind faith

that what they believe is true. It is up to the people to separate the truth from the lies.

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