Cat's Cradle Art & Culture Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #1

Call Me Jonah. My parents did, or nearly did. They called me John. (1.1)

The idea that art is a lie pops up in the first line of the novel. Vonnegut will get to the point later—but for now, just know you're being lied to and enjoy the ride.

Quote #2

The novel was about the end of the world in the year 2000, and the name of the book was 2000 A.D. It told about how mad scientists made a terrific bomb that wiped out the whole world. (5.7)

"Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life," said Oscar Wilde in his essay "The Decay of Lying." In the case of Cat's Cradle, that means art foreshadows the inevitable disaster of ice-nine. Thankfully, our reality has managed to avoid its possible year 2000 disasters… so far.

Quote #3

"That was one of [Hoenikker's] hobbies," said Miss Faust.

"What was?"

"Photographing how cannonballs are stacked on different courthouse lawns. Apparently how they've got them stacked in that picture is very unusual." (27.24-26)

Again with the life imitating art stuff. In this case, Hoenikker's cannonball art will eventually go on to be the basis of ice-nine. So, maybe it's not always a good thing?