Author and essayist, Kurt Vonnegut writes his dark humored satire, Cat's Cradle in order to entertain, question, and criticize. However, I find his style of writing very helpful to all of the meaning of this book. Written shortly after American released the atomic bomb on Japan, Vonnegut sets his novel through writer, Jonah and his mission to write a book about Dr. Felix Hoenikker, one of the minds behind the atomic bomb. He proves able to keep the reader involved in the book through his use of short chapter that very often pose a statement about humanity. The short chapters allow the reader to stop and think of the implications and digest Vonnegut's various claims and assertions. Though the chapters divide, they also run together and read as one long chapter, making it easy to follow the story and understand it. Along with an interesting plot, Vonnegut discusses real world issues at the time having to do with the bomb. For instance when Jonah travels to a headstone shop, the owner discusses his nephew and how he worked as a scientist, yet when the bomb dropped, "'kid quit, and he got drunk'" (71). I found the frequent discussion of people's drastic reactions to the bomb intriguing as it kept me reading. Vonnegut's choice of narration, although not my favorite, proved interesting as well. At the beginning of the book when Jonah puts a disclaimer that no one "will…understand this book" if they can not grasp a beginning concept, excites in the reader a desire to continue and understand the concepts as it poses a challenge (6). in addition, Vonnegut included stereotypes in his work while evoking a sense of dark humor to appeal to different kinds of readers. Throughout the first third, Jonah only addresses Newt Hoenikker as "Little Newt" (51). This directly characterizes Newt as "Little", shedding light on his midget status. While somewhat offensive, it also seems almost endearing that he refers to him as that. A sort of funny nickname that makes it seem as though he has known him for years. All of these characteristics combined makes the style of Vonnegut's book very easy and enjoyable to read.
I agree with you that his short style makes the novel an easy read. I also noticed ,stylistically, that Vonnegut includes segments from Bonokon's teachings to further our understanding of Jonah's beliefs. Which in result, gives insight on the author's feelings about religion.
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