99 pages • 3 hours read
Kurt Vonnegut Jr.Cat's Cradle
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1963A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Essay Topics
For a novel of its size, Cat’s Cradle is divided into many small chapters, each with a title. What effect do such short chapters have on the reader’s experience, and how do the chapter titles, some of which are ironic, contribute to this effect?
Find one or more historical accounts of the development of the atomic bomb. How does it compare with the fictional account in Cat’s Cradle? Why might Vonnegut have drawn from and altered history as he did?
Perform a close reading of one or more of Bokonon’s poems. What can you conclude about his poetic style?
How and why does John come to adopt Bokononism, and what are the results?
Cat’s Cradle is filled with humor, including satire, sarcasm, and dark humor. Using a few examples from the text, demonstrate how Vonnegut’s use of humor relates to one of the novel’s themes.
Analyze the plot of Cat’s Cradle. What is its central conflict, and how is it resolved?
What purpose does art (including painting and music) serve in Newt and Angela’s lives?
Compare and contrast the Crosbys and the Mintons as foil characters.
John writes Cat’s Cradle to explain “what had gone wrong—where and how” (271). What does he imply could have been done to prevent what happened?
Papa Monzano describes science as “magic that works” (218). What evidence from the novel can you cite to support or contradict his statement?
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By Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
