Friday, December 10, 2010
Postmodernism in Cat's Cradle
Cat's Cradle is no doubt a very strong postmodernism text. If one were to examine the religion Bokononism closely, one can make connections with the religion and postmodernism. Neither of the two have a rhyme or reason. There is no "main idea" to either of them. Postmodernism was a movement established in the 18th century that strived to disregard the traditions of modernism. Postmodernism has no obvious center to it and has no one controlling foundation which it originates from. A more simplistic and easier way to tell the difference between postmodernism and modernism would be an example of a ceramics sculpture. Take for example postmodernism as an abstract sculpture with random, spontaneous designs and shapes. The Modernist sculpture however, would be of a person, animal, or an object with an obvious meaning such as a house. Bokononismdoes not have a distinctive central idea. It is something that one needs to form an idea of in their own head. The first verse in the book of Bokonon says, “all the true things that I am about to tell you are shameless lies.” This just shows that Bokonon is post modernistic. Why make up something that you know isn't true? Most post modernistic texts are a bit confusing as to the purpose of them. However, that is the very basis of postmodernism. The book "Cat's Cradle" along with the "made up" religion Bokononism itself are very perplexing and it is difficult to see the point of either of these things. I hope this made sense to you. It kind of made sense in my head, I think. I'm enjoying this book and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next. I'm going to be searching for more postmodernistic ideas in the book now that we are analyzing it in that sense.
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