Cat's Cradle and Dr. Strangelove Comparison
Cat’s Cradle and Dr. Strangelove
Dr. Strangelove and Cat’s Cradle both have similarities in their story line. They were written in the 1960’s by different authors, (Dr. Strangelove is a movie not a novel) and both mentioned and dealt with Communists, and involved scientists. Although they have their similarities, the common topics are of weapons of mass destruction, power, and a dark comedy. With both stories taking place during the “Red scare” there was always talk about not trusting anyone with a secret. In Cat’s Cradle, the secret experiment was Ice 9 which could freeze the Earth’s water supply if handled in the wrong hands. After the creator, Newt’s father, died his children each stole a piece of the Ice 9 which eventually lead to the freezing of their whole island, almost destroying Earth. Dr. Stangelove has a less “original” weapon of mass destruction. The story says that the Soviets have created a Doomsday Device that will detect and Nuclear attacks from the U.S. Their problem was that General Ripper commanded the B-52 to drop a bomb on the soviets and then killed himself along with the secret code. The bomb dropped and the Doomsday Device deployed destroying everything. Power figures were a big part in each story. Cat’s Cradle’s Frank Hoenikker set out his whole life to create his own dream city where he could control everything. He sacrificed everything, including his relationships and his piece of Ice 9, to fulfill his improbable dream. The other story had its title character, Dr. Strangelove, as the “play God” figure. After hearing the soviet’s weapon will kill everyone soon he devised a plan that said lock a hand picked group of “ideal” young people to restock the population with strong, smart and beautiful children. Not only is that “playing God” but ten women per man is also because it’s not natural. The way that Cat’s Cradle is considered a “dark comedy” is because of the Ice 9 incident when it froze the whole island.
Dr. Strangelove and Cat’s Cradle both have similarities in their story line. They were written in the 1960’s by different authors, (Dr. Strangelove is a movie not a novel) and both mentioned and dealt with Communists, and involved scientists. Although they have their similarities, the common topics are of weapons of mass destruction, power, and a dark comedy. With both stories taking place during the “Red scare” there was always talk about not trusting anyone with a secret. In Cat’s Cradle, the secret experiment was Ice 9 which could freeze the Earth’s water supply if handled in the wrong hands. After the creator, Newt’s father, died his children each stole a piece of the Ice 9 which eventually lead to the freezing of their whole island, almost destroying Earth. Dr. Stangelove has a less “original” weapon of mass destruction. The story says that the Soviets have created a Doomsday Device that will detect and Nuclear attacks from the U.S. Their problem was that General Ripper commanded the B-52 to drop a bomb on the soviets and then killed himself along with the secret code. The bomb dropped and the Doomsday Device deployed destroying everything. Power figures were a big part in each story. Cat’s Cradle’s Frank Hoenikker set out his whole life to create his own dream city where he could control everything. He sacrificed everything, including his relationships and his piece of Ice 9, to fulfill his improbable dream. The other story had its title character, Dr. Strangelove, as the “play God” figure. After hearing the soviet’s weapon will kill everyone soon he devised a plan that said lock a hand picked group of “ideal” young people to restock the population with strong, smart and beautiful children. Not only is that “playing God” but ten women per man is also because it’s not natural. The way that Cat’s Cradle is considered a “dark comedy” is because of the Ice 9 incident when it froze the whole island.