Cat's Cradle Questions and Answers
How does the narrator start the novel? And how is this significant?
"Call me Jonah." Vonnegut draws parallels to the biblical Book of Jonah in which if you aren't familiar Jonah is a prophet who tries to escape God's summon for him to travel to the wicked ci...
How does the narrator start the novel? And how is this significant? - answer "Call me
Jonah." Vonnegut draws parallels to the biblical Book of Jonah in which if you aren't
familiar Jonah is a prophet who tries to escape God's summon for him to travel to the
wicked city of Nineveh. Jonah gets on a boat and travels the opposite direction of
Nineveh think he can escape god's commands but then a "great fish" swallows Jonah
when he is thrown over board. And its a twisted punishment from God in which Jonah
must repent and be forgiven by God. This parallel is made in cat's cradle by Vonnegut
as a way of supporting themes about the incomprehensibility of God's plan and the
inability of man to resist destiny
What is the Narrators real name? - answer John
why does Jonah say he would have been Jonah even if his name was Sam? - answer
"...but, because somebody or something has compelled me to be at certain places at
certain times, without fail."
Finish the line " Listen: When I was a younger man-....." - answer "two wives ago,
250,000 cigarettes ago, 3,000 quarts of booze ago. . . "
What is the title of the book the narrator is collecting material to write? And what is this
book suppose to be about - answer The Day the World Ended. The book was to be
an account of what important Americas had done on the day when the first atomic bomb
was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.
What religious group does John belong to at the being of the book? - answer
Christianity
What's the only place where Bokononism exists? - answer San Lorenzo
Where is the island of San Lorenzo located? - answer In the Caribbean Sea
What does Bokononists believe? - answer that humanity is organized into teams,
teams that do God's will without ever discovering what they are doing and why
What is a karass? - answer The word karass, coined by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. refers to
a network or group of people that, unknown to them, are linked, specifically to fulfill the
will of God
what is a kan-kan? And what is John's kan-kan? - answer A kan-kan is an object or
item that brings a person into their karass. John's Kan-kan is the book he'd never finish
( "The Day the World Ended" )
, What is the main text for Bokononism? - answer The books of Bokonon
What does a karass ignore? - answer "..Karass ignores national, institutional,
occupational, familial, and class boundaries."
How might someone know who's in their karass? - answer "if you find your life
tangled up with somebody else's life for no very logical reasons, that person may be a
member of your karass"
What does John compare the flexibility of an karass to? - answer an amoeba
What is the parable Bokonon writes that shows the folly of pretending to understand and
discover? - answer An Episcopalian Lady in Rhode Island asked Bokonon to build
her a dog house for her great Dane. The Lady claimed to understand God's ways and
could not understand why anyone could be puzzled of what was going to be. Bokonon
then shows her the blueprint and she says that she could never read one, Bokonon
replies "when God finds a minute I'm sure he'll explain this doghouse of mine in a way
that even you can understand." Bokonon is fired and he concludes the story by saying, "
She was a fool, and so am I, and so is anyone who thinks he sees what God is doing."
What does Bokonon not warn against on the subject of Karasses?What does he warn
instead? - answer Bokonon does not warn against a person trying to find the limits of
their Karass and the nature in which God brings them together. But he warns that their
investigations will always be incomplete
What does John say he intends to include in this book as much as possible? - answer
many members of his karass and to examine all strong hints as to what on Earth they
have been up to
What is the first sentence in The Books of Bokonon? - answer "All of the true things I
am about to tell you are shameless lies"
What is John's Bokononist warning? - answer "Anyone unable to understand how a
useful religion can be found on lies will not understand this book."
What is a sinookas? - answer components of an individual's life that can become
entangled with those of other members of his karass
Who is one of the so-called "fathers" of the first atomic Bomb? And what real person are
they based on? - answer Dr. Felix Hoenikker. Vonnegut invented the character
following a particularly rich interaction with Irving Langmuir, a pioneer in atomic theory
and himself a Nobel laureate. Vonnegut took special note of Langmuir's absolute
ambivalence about the possibility of his research "falling into the wrong hands."
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