Cat's Cradle Summary

In Cat's Cradle, the author Kurt Vonnegut talks about religion. The main religion written about was Bokononism. Bokononism is established by the government of San Lorenzo to make the people forget about their underprivileged quality of lives. Vonnegut's novel sees ordinary people become deified and manipulated to become spokespeople for some greater human force. Vonnegut expresses his distrust of technology, opposition to religion and fear of a rapidly evolving society. The theme in Vonnegut's novel is that humankind needs to move away from having a dependence on technology. Vonnegut's novel is like a plan for what we shouldn't let happen. It is felt that a machine is run in America and the result when people recognize their own lives and that machines do not control them. Once people begin realizing they are alive and not mechanical, change will occur. Vonnegut's solution to the rapid movement towards mass programming is that we rely more on each other than relying on technology.
When a scientist
Philip Engstrand is an academic whose study is other academics. Tightly set up at Beauchamp University in Northern California, he falls in love with Alice Coombs, a subdivision physicist. Coombs is part of Dr. Soft's team, trying to create a "pocket universe" by replicating the Big Bang on a mini scale. The experiment fails, but in a interesting way. Instead of disappearing, the field steadies into a valued sort of black hole. It's a window that sits in the center a large table. Some things pass through the window and disappear. Some things simply pass through the window to the other side of the table. The choice seems random. It's a mystery, which contributes to its name, The Lack. In time, Alice becomes obsessed with the Lack, Philip becomes unreasonably obsessed with Alice, and a fight for the Lack becomes