Cat's Cradle Book Meaning
This is one of many intriguing things discussed in the novel Cats Cradle.
Cat's cradle book meaning. That certainly sounds far-fetched today but it was a commonly held superstition back in the 1600s and 1700s. It was the game Dr. A cats cradle is essentially a game played by all ages and almost all nationalities.
Although Vonnegut clearly intends for his readers to laugh while reading his book Cats Cradle is not merely a playful frolic through human foibles. Some characters lie to themselves for happiness like a child pretending to see the cat and the cradle because they enjoy the game. There are several significantly strong postmodern concepts Vonnegut brings into view in this novel.
It is never arbitrary and meaningless people just usuallyok almost always misunderstand its meaning. The true origin of the name is debated though the first known reference is in The light of nature pursued by Abraham Tucker in 1768. Newt had painted a cats cradle as a symbol of the pointless games that adults teach children ascribing meaning to them when there is none.
Cats cradle is a game involving the creation of various string figures between the fingers either individually or by passing a loop of string back and forth between two or more players. In a literal sense a cats cradle is a game played with string in which each player must maneuver their fingers to create different images one of which is the cats cradle. All this stuff about the book meaning that life is arbitrary and meaningless is not everything I got from it.
But as Newt Dr. Cats Cradle is laced with irony and parody but it is necessary to recognize the underlying implications of Vonneguts humor. Just like an endless pointless game of Cats Cradle.
This religion confronts the shameless untruths that Vonnegut believes all religions to be formed upon by bringing them to the front and still having devoted followers. You are not better than any other human. The use of cats in the cradle to describe something dangerous appears to come from an old wives tale that if allowed into its crib a cat would kill an infant by sucking out its breath.