Adam Cap

  • About
  • Mail
  • Archive/Search

Book Report on Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

↘︎ Feb 25, 2005 … 2′ … download⇠ | skip ⇢

The book Cat’s Cradle is about our protagonist, John (or Jonah), who has set out to write a book about what important Americans had done on the day when the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. The book is called The Day the World Ended. To write the book, John writes a letter to Felix Hoenikker, who is the creator of the atomic bomb, to gather information. Felix is dead however, and his son Newt replies. Newt tells him some information, but he doesn’t know that much because he was very young when the bomb was dropped. John then flies over to the town of Ilium, which is where the Hoenikkers lived. John gathers some information from the townspeople. He learns that there was another son of Felix, named Frank that had been missing for a long time and was thought to be dead. John was then hired to write an article about Julian Castle, who was a millionaire on the island of San Lorenzo. On the plane ride, John noticed Newt and Angelo. He discovers that their brother Frank was living in San Lorenzo. John talks to the Hoenikker children about their father. He learns about ice-nine, which is a substance their father invented that turns water into ice instantly. It could turn all the water in the world into ice in minutes. Felix only made a very small amount of it, and gave a little bit to each of his children. When the ruler of San Lorenzo, Papa, dies, he swallows some ice-nine, which Frank gave to him. Frank had given him some in order to gain his high authority and income on the island. The ice-nine could be a deadly weapon. They must be very careful with Papa’s body because if it were to touch water, the whole world would come to an end. They are very careful with his body and put him in a closet. Then later that day there is an air-show for some holiday in San Lorenzo. One of the planes crashes into Papa’s house, which is on the edge of a cliff, and knocks him into the ocean. This causes all the water to turn into ice because of the ice-nine and it brings the world to an end. It was iron how John was writing a book called The Day the World Ended and his research brought him to the actual day the world ended.

The theme of the book is about the search for truth. The book start “Call me Jonah,” which parodies the book Moby-Dick that starts “Call me Ishmael.” The book Moby-Dick is also a book about the search for truth. During the book, John is searching for truth about Felix Hoenikker, who is the creator of the atomic bomb. The whole story is about him going from place to place, talking to people to find information about him. The book also talks about religion a lot. Vonnegut questions religion many times, saying it is all lies, and this is another part about searching for the truth. The search for information about Felix is a search for the truths about science, which is compared to religion. There is a made up religion in the story, called Bokononism, which John learns about and tries to discover the truths about. While learning information about it, he find out that it is all lies. The two ideas of religion and science are researched by John to discover their truths.

Me

circa 2013 (25 y/o)

about adam

Recently…

  • 10 May 25: An Art Critique on “Tennis Court” by Ellsworth Kelly (1949) #ART 1021 (Introduction to Art History & Appreciation II) #Dr. Emily Hage #Saint Joseph’s University
  • 10 Apr 22: Oxygenation and Hydrochlorination of Vaska’s Complex Ir(Cl)[P(C6H5)3]2(CO) #CHM 2521 (Inorganic Chemistry Lab) #Dr. Peter M. Graham #Saint Joseph’s University
  • 10 Apr 21: Refraction Lab #Dr. Paul J. Angiolillo #PHY 1042 (General Physics Lab II) #Saint Joseph’s University
  • 10 Apr 20: The Mental, Physical, and Social Implications of Self Enhancement #Dr. Judith J. Chapman #PSY 2341 (Psychology of the Self) #Saint Joseph’s University
  • 10 Apr 18: Law of Reflection Lab #Dr. Paul J. Angiolillo #PHY 1042 (General Physics Lab II) #Saint Joseph’s University
  • 10 Apr 16: Synthesis, Determination, and Catalytic Measurement of Ruthenium Indenylidene Complexes used in Olefin Metathesis #CHM 2521 (Inorganic Chemistry Lab) #Dr. Peter M. Graham #Saint Joseph’s University
  • 10 Apr 12: Current Balance Lab #Dr. Paul J. Angiolillo #PHY 1042 (General Physics Lab II) #Saint Joseph’s University
  • 10 Apr 10: The Perfect Paper #Mr. Robert Fleeger #PHL 2011 (Knowledge and Existence) #Saint Joseph’s University
  • 10 Mar 29: Magnetic Fields Lab #Dr. Paul J. Angiolillo #PHY 1042 (General Physics Lab II) #Saint Joseph’s University
  • 10 Mar 22: Series and Parallel Circuits Lab #Dr. Paul J. Angiolillo #PHY 1042 (General Physics Lab II) #Saint Joseph’s University
  • 10 Mar 17: Synthesis and Determination of [1,3,5-C6H3(CH3)3]Mo(CO)3 #CHM 2521 (Inorganic Chemistry Lab) #Dr. Peter M. Graham #Saint Joseph’s University
  • 10 Mar 4: Synthesis and Determination of Polypyrazolylborates #CHM 2521 (Inorganic Chemistry Lab) #Dr. Peter M. Graham #Saint Joseph’s University
  • 10 Mar 2: Electrical Resistance and Ohm’s Law #Dr. Paul J. Angiolillo #PHY 1042 (General Physics Lab II) #Saint Joseph’s University
  • 10 Feb 22: Hooke’s Law and Simple Harmonic Motion #Dr. Paul J. Angiolillo #PHY 1042 (General Physics Lab II) #Saint Joseph’s University
  • 10 Feb 11: Tinkering with Tin #CHM 2521 (Inorganic Chemistry Lab) #Dr. Peter M. Graham #Saint Joseph’s University
  • 10 Jan 21: Psychology of the Self Notes #Dr. Judith J. Chapman #PSY 2341 (Psychology of the Self) #Saint Joseph’s University
  • 09 Dec 7: The Biochemistry of Anthrax #CHM 2611 (Biochemistry) #Dr. Mark F. Reynolds #Saint Joseph’s University
  • 09 Dec 5: Ring-Opening Metathesis PowerPoint Presentation #CHM 2511 (Inorganic Chemistry) #Dr. Peter M. Graham #Saint Joseph’s University
  • 09 Nov 22: Double Group Transfer Reactions of an Unsaturated Tantalum Methylidene Complex with Pyridine N-Oxides #CHM 2511 (Inorganic Chemistry) #Dr. Peter M. Graham #Saint Joseph’s University
  • 09 Nov 21: Conservation of Angular Momentum #Dr. Paul J. Angiolillo #PHY 1032 (General Physics Lab I) #Saint Joseph’s University
archive

More from…
11th Grade – English – American Literature (Class) / Great Valley High School (School) / Mrs. Michelle Leininger (Teacher) / schoolwork (Post Type)

⇠ Previous
Next schoolwork ⇢
  • Home
  • About
  • Archive
  • Mail
  • Random
  • Dingus
  • Reading
  • Code

ADAM CAP is an elastic waistband enthusiast, hammock admirer, and rare dingus collector hailing from Berwyn, Pennsylvania.

My main interests at this time include reading, walking, and learning how to do everything faster.

Psst: If you find my website helpful or enjoyable, please join my newsletter and/or send me an email—I want to hear from you!

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

© 2009–2023 Adam Cap(riola) top ⇡