Satire has always represented a release value for democracy. From the time of Old Comedy in Greece, where Aristophanes would critique war, education and the elite equally, to Shirley Jackson's haunting work "The Lottery," which criticizes mob conformity, satire has always been present.
Satire does not denote humor, as the connotations imply, but is rather a spectrum of criticism from dramatic to humorous. From "1984" to "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," satire becomes a lens through which society can be perceived and often reflects current social issues or threats. One of the preeminent writers of satire is Kurt Vonnegut.
To understand how Vonnegut uses satire, one must look at how he crafted his style, beginning with "Slaughter-House Five." Following the story of Billy Pilgrim, a man who is unstuck from time, Billy is caught up in uncontrollable movements across his timeline. This leads to him at one time being in WWII during the fire bombings of Dresden, only to blink and be in an alien zoo somewhere else in time and space.
The synchronological story structure is a perfect representation of Vonnegut's style in the events that were, are and will exist simultaneously in space. The disjointed structure of the novel serves to focus on the characters.
Kurt Vonnegut's characters are often subject to the fate of their world. This is the fate of characters like Malachi Constant from "Sirens of Titan',' whose entire existence was predetermined by aliens to bring a part to a broken spacecraft. The tragic reality of his predestined role becomes a bitter joke.
With these elements of satire, episodic narratives and strong characters, we get one of the most creative works of literature: "Cat's Cradle." The novel opens with our Narrator, Jonah, reflecting on the events that led him to his current moment. His interviews on the American experience of the bombing of Hiroshima uncover an untold story of scientist Dr. Hoenikker and his invention ice-nine.
The novel follows Jonah's investigation across the U.S. and eventually to the fictional Caribbean island of San Lorenzo, ruled by the dictator "Papa" Monzano. The violent technique for suppressing crime on the island of San Lorenzo, execution by hook, is perceived by American tourists as a brilliant deterrent to crime.
The excess of the execution became clear as any crime from murder to worship of the island's religion, bokononism, was punished equally even though everyone on the island, including the dictator, was a practicing bokonisist.
Blending history and fiction, Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle" is a Cold War cocktail of theory and thought. The all-important ice-nine, an ice that can freeze all water it touches, becomes the latest weapon in elevating the arms race.
The island of San Lorenzo, with its authoritarian government, is a reference to Dominican Republic's Rafael Trujillo. His bloody regime and the cult of personality defined him as one of the Western Hemisphere's most violent dictators.
"Cat's Cradle" is a work of fiction, often reimaging facts through the lens of satire, and there is something to its interest in reflecting our world. As the novel puts forward, "Live by the (harmless untruths) that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy."
The passing resemblance between Vonnegut's novel and the name of this column is not a coincidence. The novel's interest in the pursuit of truth, the inherent good of humanity and the necessity of historical context for a subject guide the writing process. Often the pursuit to see "the cat, the cradle" in the connected strings is representative of the methodology in constructing and rethinking the ever-shifting cat's cradle of a topic.
The novel invites us to rethink how we read life. Though there is no universal way to read the world, instead, we must read through the lens of others. In other words, we must see with one set of eyes to know our own. Vonnegut invites us to be inquisitive, humorous and honest with our own worlds.
Benjamin Ervin is a senior studying English literature and writing at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Want to talk more about it? Let Benjamin know by emailing him be425014@ohio.edu.
