Kurt Vonnegut

Nick writes:

Cats Cradle

Kurt Vonnegut writes extraordinarily well in his novel, Cat's
Cradle. The way he writes however is in a way that tells more of
ideas rather than a story. The main character is looking back on
the events. He relates everything to this idea of Bokonism. Of
course, there is a plot. The idea of the novel is to tell how
this man's path leads him to believing in Bokonism. He is
planning to write a novel on the life of Dr. Hoenikker the father
of the atom bomb. In the process he meets his family, and
discovers a lot about his life. Dr. Hoenikker was a brilliant man
and at one point designed a product with the capability to
destroy the earth. The product, called ice nine is split between
his three kids. The main character believes the kids are all part
of his Karass. A Karass is a Bokonist term for team. Throughout
the novel, the Bokonist ideas show up repeatedly. For example, at
one point the main character lets a man live at his house because
he had nowhere else to go. The man killed the main characters
cat, and destroyed the house but looking back it was a good thing
because it led him into the right direction toward becoming a
Bokonist. So far I have actually discovered a lot about the
family too. The doctor had three kids. Newt is a midget, very
smart and otherwise a surprisingly normal person. Angela lived
her entire life after sixteen years old looking after the doctor.
She has no friends and nowhere to turn after the doctor passes
away. Lastly, Frank is an extremely talented sculptor with a lot
of talent. Unfortunately, he got mixed up in some illegal people.
Frank fled to an island where a dictator keeps him alive only to
be his right hand man. The island, San Lorenzo I Imagine will
later on have more importance to the novel. As I read on, I
imagine I will continue to uncover more about the father of the
atom bomb, his three kids, ice nine, and how it all relates to
these Bokonist ideals.