Kurt Vonnegut Satire

Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle is a fictional embedment of satirization used to reveal the flaws in mankind. Throughout the story Vonnegut introduced objects and characters that are meant to be satirical representations of people and things in the world. For example, Felix Hoenikker is a satirical element of science and technology in that he is presented as a man who believes that everything in the world is a game or puzzle and has no consequence. The hook in San Lorenzo is used as mockery of the death penalty. Finally, H Lowe Crosby is a representation of capitalism and all of its problems that is causes society. Mankind’s failure to solve the repetitive problems that negatively affect the country is Kurt Vonnegut’s message in Cat’s Cradle,
Breed. “Twenty-six people he had on his conscience!”
“The mind reels,” I said (Vonnegut 29).
A scientist who helped create the atomic bomb that killed tens of thousands of people sees a problem with a man who killed twenty-six people. The absence of abstract ideals in society creates an environment with no concern of life or other humans. And, as Vonnegut applies, the continuation of the ignorance and lack of abstract concepts is what facilitates the continuity of destructive science projects. Science is used by Vonnegut to poke fun at the foolishness of science and humanities inability to figure out the very real and potential dangers from past
The hook represents mankind's blurred perception of the effectiveness of the death penalty. Vonnegut, who believes that all life is precious, implies that the capability of the punishment is not effective since we live in an indifferent universe. Killing one person will not change the way that the world works, but, as Vonnegut believes, loving each other can change the world since man is the essence of the universe. The idea that the universe is indifferent to mankind is the deceptive force that allows humans to continue to make the mistake of applying the death penalty. Vonnegut’s mockery of the death penalty goes along with the Crosby’s experience in London in the Chamber of Horrors. Not only did the Crosby’s see a wax figure of a person hanging from a hook, but they also saw a man who had been electrocuted for murdering his son. Vonnegut’s satirization comes with Hazel Crosby’s revelation when she states, “Only, after they roasted him, they found out he hadn’t murdered his son after all” (Vonnegut 95). This aspect of wasting human life, especially doing so wrongfully, reveals a flawed justice system in an indifferent universe. The careless universe plays into the fact that we continue to make the same mistake of killing people, sometimes without probable cause. Despite the