Cat's Cradle

Analysis
The Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut is a novel that contains many conflicting ideas that are important to the lives of people. Certain scientific advancements can either help the public or harm them such as the creation of the atom bomb. Science can provide a wide variety of things ranging from medicine to inventions such as the cell phone.

In the novel there are two inventions that can both help and harm the society, but harm more then help. Science allows for the invention of the atom bomb, something that can take the lives of many people in one single second. It could be good for the destruction of an area in a split second but other then that there is nothing else that could benefit from something so strong and powerful. The creation of ice nine by Dr. Hoenikker was something that could end the world if it was handled the wrong way. The second ice nice hits a drop of water it freezes it in an instant. The only benefit from this invention would be to freeze over mud for troops to walk over and not spend the time getting stuck in it. Once again an invention intended for good turns out bad. In the novel ice nine is the cause for the end of the world and the end of human life. These are two examples of how science can produce good things but at the same time an equal amount of bad.

Dr. Hoenikker was a well known scientist who was the creator of the atom bomb. The question arises whether or not Felix was a good person. Could the creator of something so dangerous as ice nine be a normal, innocent person? Hoenikker did not want the fame and fortune for his inventions, he just did what he enjoyed and thought was right. He was not the type to hang out and interact with his family or anyone else. He cared more about science then he ever would about his family. This causes him to sound like a terrible person but would such an evil person enjoy studying turtles and have toys in his laboratory? Its hard to say whether or not Felix should be known as evil or innocent; his inventions were life threatening to the public, but he was a quiet man who enjoyed keeping to himself. Innocent or evil? Dr. Hoenikker was a mysterious man who created something that ended the world.

Quote:
"After the thing went off, after it was a sure thing that America could wipe out a city with just one bomb, a scientist turned to father and said, 'Science has now known sin.' And do you know what father said? He said, 'What is sin?'" (21).
I think it is very ironic that the one who just created the biggest sin known to man, has to ask what sin is. Taking the lives of people in one split second is considered to be the worst thing a person could do and yet Hoenikker has not the slightest idea. This novel is filled with many accounts of irony but this is one of the biggest ones that stuck out. The father of the atom bomb has to ask what exactly sin is even though he just created the biggest one possible. For such a brilliant scientist how could such a question be asked?

Opinion
I was not sure what to think when I first started reading this book. Was Dr. Felix Hoenikker a terrible man who could not be bothered to spend time with his children or did he have a reason to neglect them constantly? When I learned of ice-nine I went back to believing Hoenikker was a great scientist who did great things for the world. It seemed like such a great invention that could greatly lower the burden when obstacles are put in front of you like a large body of water you must cross. By the end of the book my opinion completely changed about ice-nine. It may have been a good thought but once it was created it was so incredibly dangerous. It lead to the destruction of human life and the end of the world. Something that is so powerful should not be in the hands of humans or even created. Dr. Hoenikker may have thought he was doing wonderful things but when you look back on his major inventions they only caused great problems, such as the atom bomb and ice-nine.

Overall I thought this book had some interesting ideas mainly being ice-nine. The question of Dr. Hoenikker being good or evil kept me wondering through the entire book and by the end I concluded that he was a good man at heart but when creating his inventions the evil came out.