Cat's Cradle | Topics for Discussion & Projects

Cat's Cradle Topics for Discussion

John's non-fiction book, The Day the World Ended, is originally about the day the hydrogen bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. What is the final subject of the book, and how do the two topics relate to each other?

Kurt Vonnegut is a premier satirist. What are some of the ways that Vonnegut skewers religion, greed, businessmen, the military and Americans in general?

What are some of the institutions that are satirized in Cat's Cradle?

In Cat's Cradle, does Vonnegut offer any hopeful alternatives to the religions that he satirizes?

How does Papa Monzano die?

Is the end of the world ultimately caused by greed or destructiveness, and why?

After Dr. Hoenikker's death, each of the three Hoenikker offspring receives a vial of Ice-nine. How do Angela, Frank and Newton each use it? What does this behavior say about human nature?

Nihilism is the philosophy that life is essentially meaningless. How...
(read more)