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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What color is the chip of Ice-nine that Dr. Felix Hoenikker created?

2. Where does John describe stopping for a 10-minute layover in Chapter 47?

3. What college is Newt Hoenikker attending when the narrator writes to him in Chapter 4?

4. How old was Angela Hoenikker when her mother died?

5. For what company did Dr. Felix Hoenikker work most of his life?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is significant about the stone angel monument at the sales room in Ilium?

2. How is Dr. Felix Hoenikker's personality described in Cat's Cradle?

3. Who is Lyman Knowles and what does he represent in the novel?

4. What statement do you think that Vonnegut is making in regards to politics and science in Cat's Cradle?

5. What is surprising to John when he encounters the Hoenikker burial plot in Chapters 29 and 30?

6. How does fate bring the narrator to San Lorenzo?

7. How is the character of Sherman Krebbs used as a means to satire in the novel?

8. How is Miss Pefko characterized in the novel?

9. What aspects of Dr. Hoenikker's character are revealed through Dr. Breed's stories of him in Chapter 14?

10. How does the narrator describe San Lorenzo's attempt at communism in the narrative?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe and analyze the character of Newt Hoenikker in the novel. What information does Newt relate to John via letters? How does John perceive Newt when they finally meet? What are Newt's relationships like with his siblings?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss Kurt Vonnegut's use of literary, religious, and historical allusions in Cat's Cradle. What are examples of literary works alluded to in the novel? How do these works relate to Cat's Cradle in terms of theme, character, setting, etc.? What purpose do the allusions serve in the narrative?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the theme of religion in Cat's Cradle. How is contemporary Christian religion assessed by the author? How do the tenets of Bokononism compare with those of Christianity? What does Vonnegut make of religion as a whole?

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