Symbolism In The Cat's Cradle By Kurt Vonnegut

A symbol is something that represents something else. In Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle, a reoccurring symbol is – unbelievably - the cat’s cradle, which is represented in three different ways. There’s the “literal cat’s cradle, which is where this symbol comes from, and there’s an image of the cradle. But the most interesting way the cat’s cradle is represented is when it’s used as a metaphor in different situations. The cats’ cradle is used as a symbol to signify the difference between the world as it seems, to the world as it really is. The literal reference to the term cat’s cradle comes from a game played with string. When Newt sees this he thinks there’s “nothing but a bunch of X’s between somebody’s hand”(166). But his father told him
After John had performed Boko-maru with Mona, he told her she could not do it with anyone else. At this time – which was right after he agreed with Frank to become president – he felt as if he had power he didn’t actually have.
She was still on the floor, and I, now with my shoes and socks back on, was standing. I felt very tall, though I’m not very tall; and I felt very strong, though I’m not very strong; and I was a respectful stranger to my own voice. My voice had a metallic authority that was new. (208)
Although this sense of superiority didn’t last long, John seemed to turn into someone he wasn’t, just because he was given the title president. John himself became “a respectful stranger to [his] own voice”(208). He realized that even before he officially became president of San Lorenzo that he “was already starting to rule”(208). Also, the fact that John becomes president to be the voice of Frank is another reference back to the cat’s cradle. Frank says he and his father were “no good at facing the public” (198) which is the reason he asks John to be president. That way Frank could keep doing his science and John could share those ideas to the public. Frank also shared some history of him as a kid. Kids used to make fun of him, call him X-9 and didn’t think he did much but make “model airplanes and jerk off all
These targets represent different people, for example, Hitler, Karl Marx, and “some old Jap”(229) and are made from “cardboard cutouts shaped like men”(229). This example perfectly shows people taking things and trying to make them into something completely different, like how the cat’s cradle came from a piece of string. There are many more examples like this in Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle, which is why using the cat’s cradle for what it symbolizes was such an appropriate theme for this