Monday, January 25, 2010

Cat's Cradle and Postmodernism

There are a lot of postmodern ideas in this book.
One of the most presented in this book so far, would be religion.
In Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, the religion is Bokononism. This religion is a perfect example of postmodernism. This made up religion may be all lies , but the people, still believe in them. This religion is only true because a group of people give it importance and have faith in it. Even the first verse in the Book of Bokonons says: "All of the true things I'm going to tell you are shameless lies." By this we can see that Vonnegut's view on religion is that, people are always looking for something to believe in, specially when horrible things are happening, having faith in something even though it is not concrete can help cover up all the horrors of life. For example, "Truth was the enemy of people, because the truth was so terrible, so Bokonon made it his business to provide the people with better and better lies, " Bokonon, just like the book Cat's Cradle it self, tries to make a horrible eve, like the atomic bomb, be more understandable and not as bad for people to read about it.
"If you find your life tangled up with somebody else's life for no very logical reasons, that person may be a member of your karas," It is true that a person can have an effect in you life like if you try to help a person cross the street and a car hits you. Yes this can definately have an effect in your life, but what the Karass is about, is Fate. Fate is a postmodern idea. Fate is the supposed force, principle, or power that determines events, as well as the invevitable events presdestined by this force. Basically accepting that you are not in charge of your future, that you have no idea of what is going on, but something or someone does.

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