Cat's CradleA study of human nature would suggest that man has an insatiable appetite for knowledge and understanding -- sometimes devoid of logic or reason. As Vonnegut contends: "Man got to tell himself he understand...," even when he does not. Post a comment explaining your position on this issue and attempt to relate your observations to the novel Cat's Cradle. What do you think the phrase "See the cat, see the cradle" means. Be sure to proof your work and do not repeat ideas, but you may expand a concept presented previously.
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Vonnegut states that humans have a need to obtain knowledge and answers that tend to be rather pointless. This need has become a basic instinct of the human. The "Cat's Cradle" which is an pointless formation of strings representing a endless puzzle without rationality but in the end is accepted and played by everyone. This puzzle is a representation of all the delusions and lies that are spread in the course of this novel. The phrase "See the cat, see the Cradle" refers to the fact that all things are meaningless and finding its answers is an exercise in futility. Only thing gained is entering a chase which is endless.
It is the human condition to search for knowledge and truth. Man wants the answers to every question about everything. “Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly; Man got to sit and wonder, 'Why, why, why?' Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land; Man got to tell himself he understand." This quote from Cat’s Cradle conveys the idea that man is just another animal. A tiger’s natural instinct is to hunt, a bird’s natural instinct is to fly, and man’s natural instinct is to question. However, this kind of questioning has no answers and, at the end of the day, man tells himself he understands just to say he understands. This brings me to my next point of cat’s cradle. Cat’s cradle is a game beloved by many people. It is a game played with two people and a piece of string in which you look for the X’s, but the game itself never ends; as Newt said, “No damn cat, and no damn cradle” (pg 166). It is a delusion and, as Rahul said, symbolizes all delusion. All of the lies in this novel are delusions; even Bokononism itself is a delusion. The quote “See the cat? See the cradle”, represents how there is no cat, there is no cradle, there is no ultimate end in the quest for answers. It reminds me of the story told in the novel, the story of how when God created the world, he created mud, as man, to sit up and speak to Him. Mud sat up and looked around at the world and asked God what its purpose was. God replied, “Everything must have a purpose?” When mud replied “certainly,” God assigned mud, as man, the task of discovering that purpose. This story from Bokonon conveys how man is always searching for answers, but are trapped in a game of cat’s cradle in which there is no end, there are no answers. That man will always seek but never find. The only cure, Bokonon conveys, is to accept the mysteries of the world, look up at the sky, and say “Busy, busy, busy.” Then again, Bokononism itself is a lie.
Humans are always looking for answers. We always want to learn more about everything so we can try to fully understand. Scientists are always finding cures for diseases and sicknesses. Researchers always have something to research because they continuously ask questions. As Vonnegut said "Man got to tell himself he understand..." even when he does not understand. We don't always understand what we learn which leads to more questions. No matter what questions we ask to understand something, there are always going to be more questions to answer. Like the game, knowledge can always expand and it is never ending. The cat's cradle is never actually there and there is always another move to make, like Mackenzie said. Questions are like the X's, answers are the moves made. After every move, there are more X's followed by another move and the cycle never ends. Every time we learn something new, another question is asked. There is never a complete answer. We only stop asking questions when we accept there are always going to be more.
As Vonnegut said "Man got to tell himself he understand..." even when he does not understand. When people learn something new for the first time they usually don't always fully understand the topic. They always have questions to ask and are wanting to know more about that particular subject. Sometimes particular questions cannot be answered and people tell themselves they understand even when they do not. "Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly; Man got to sit and wonder, why, why, why?". Everything on this earth has a purpose and a mans purpose is to ask questions and do as much research as he can to try to find answers. I believe that the phrase see the cat see the cradle means that life is just an unused wilderness with no meaning, but we just have to ignore that and find the meaning that brings us the most happiness. If we keep searching for answers that cannot be answered we are only wasting time and that doesn't result to happiness.
"Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly; Man got to sit and wonder, 'Why, why, why?' Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land; Man got to tell himself he understand." Vonnegut conveyed in “Cat’s Cradle” that Mankind's search for knowledge will never end. The Cat's Cradle is a metaphor for the endless and illogical quest for knowledge. In reality, a cat isn't formed from the crossing strings in cat's cradle, and the human mind is tricked into believing that there is a cat. The quest for knowledge that mankind departs on every day is simply a vicious cycle in which a true answer can never be found and the only answers we receive are self-generated and artificial.
Human beings have the insatiable desire to learn more, know more, and achieve more for reasons unknown to all. Even if the new ideas or concepts are not understood, we still pride ourselves with simply knowing something new. Nobody seems to have an explanation as to why humans always wish to develop and evolve further, yet this is a key part of our behavior and lives. There is always this desire present in everyone’s lives, and it essentially shapes their personality and what they will accomplish. "Man got to tell himself he understand...." This quote by Vonnegut exemplifies this craving, as even if we do not understand an idea, we must tell ourselves that we do. Humans must have a “logical” reason for everything, because for something to exist for no apparent reason whatsoever is not possible in our eyes. The phrase "See the cat, see the cradle" means that our yearning for knowledge is never-ending; we as humans will always be trying to find the cradle that does not exist simply because we are not fully satisfied with finding the cat. There always has to be more to the story, when in all reality there is nothing else left to find.
Human beings are always on the quest for new inventions, techniques, and ideas to answer questions that others have posed in the world. There is always a desire to answer the questions in the world. A question can never fully be answered because the question can be taken further, be more complex, or another question is created. As Vonnegut said “Man got to tell himself he understand…” this means a man may tell himself he understood a question but still has further questions to be answered. He may not understand the question at all, which leads to another question to try and figure out; there is always going to be more questions to try and answer. This represents the Cat’s Cradle in “The Cat’s Cradle”. Cat’s cradle is a game played with mainly two people and they look for the X’s. I remember playing the game as a kid and remembering how the game never ended, it just went on until someone quit. Like the quote “See the cat? See the cradle” like Mackenzie said represents that there is never any cat or cradle, there is no end in the pursuit to find the answer. The search for answers to questions will never end, human beings will always be asking questions to figure out questions they have in life.
It is human nature for people to look further into questions and search for further answers. As humans we try to completely understand all the knowledge that we obtain. Humans do not understand all that they learn, which in turn brings more questions to answer. Vonnegut said, “Man got to tell himself he understand..." even when he does not understand... This means even though humans obtain and take in a great deal of knowledge throughout a life time, that humans don’t truly understand every idea that gets thrown at them. However humans also do a great deal of compensating for all their misunderstandings through questioning things that they do not understand. Therefore, there is no end to questioning things through the human eye because humans can never fully understand everything they attempt to learn. It’s like when I am in school trying to learn a new subject and I do not understand, I keep asking questions until I get the answer I need. The phrase "See the cat, see the cradle" means humans see what is there, if there is nothing to be seen they wont see it. This also means that there is a never ending search for answers and we, as humans, will always search for the thing that cannot be seen because simply we as humans are never satisfied with only one answer, we must have more, even if there is no more to find.
I believe that in his novel Cat’s Cradle, Vonnegut tries to offer convenience as hope in a hopeless world. The religion Bokononism, widely discussed throughout the novel exemplifies this. For example, it’s not so much that people are tricked into seeing the cat when they look at the cat’s cradle, but rather that they want to see the cat, and that satiated desire is comforting. When Bokonon preaches “man got to tell himself he understand”, and I think that by this, Vonnegut is trying to express the idea that though people may not understand everything they learn, and see, and believe, sometimes it is easiest to just accept it anyway, and always see the cat, and the cradle.
It is suggested that humans always have a hunger for truth and more knowledge, even if it is sometimes meaningless. When Vonnegut says “Man got to tell himself he understand…” he is saying that the answers man finds may not always make sense, but he has to tell himself that he understands it or else he will keep searching and never find the true answer. In the novel, Cat’s Cradle, the religion Bokononism is often referred to. This is a religion that many people follow and it is full of harmless lies that people believe. The people who listen to theses lies forces themselves to understand them and this makes them happy and gives them a peace of mind. The phrase “See the cat, see the cradles” relates to this idea of man having to tell himself he understands. Cat’s cradle is a puzzle game that two people play with string that never ends. People enjoy this, however, because they understand and accept that the game has no end, but still enjoy playing it. As the number of moves in this game is endless, so are the questions to be answered. If someone doesn’t accept that sometimes there is no answer or end, there will be a chase that is endless.
Psychologists preach that one of man kind's basic needs is the belief in a supreme being. Kurt Vonnegut was a self proclaimed atheist and described religious doctrine as "so much arbitrary, clearly invented balderdash." This opinion is clearly demonstrated in the novel "Cat's Cradle" where Vonnegut uses the metaphor of the cat's cradle to demonstrate his belief that there is no God. In the game cat's cradle, there is no cat, there is no cradle. The phrase "see the cat. see the cradle" is a metaphor for man's futile search for a God that does not exist. The idea that the belief in a higher being is a basic human need is as deceiving as the name of the game cat's cradle. Man is led to believe that somewhere in the x's of the game there is a cat or a cradle. Similarly, knowing that believing in a higher power is a human necessity leads man to assume that God does exist. The protagonist of the novel "Cat's Cradle" is seeking his divinity in Doctor Hoenikker, only to find that Hoenikker's creations are "divinely" destructive. "Cat's Cradle" is a clear statement of Vonnegut's atheist belief that searching for the almighty through human rhetoric is universally destructive.
Knowledge reigns supreme over everyone, but answers are never for certain. Today we repeat what has been told to us without ever knowing the complete concept of the message.” No wonder kids grow up crazy. A cat's cradle is nothing but a bunch of X's between somebody's hands and little kids look and look and look at all those X's..." "And? No damn cat and no damn cradle." If we actually slow down to really view the true meaning of a cats cradle, we find no meaning. When an individual is put into a situation such as a class room setting where you’re the only one who does not understand the concept or answer, we force ourselves to comprehend what is being said, even when our interior monologue may say otherwise. The human condition tells us to not stand out and avoid asking questions even though if it might benefit, but instead to concur with what even may not be true.
humans always want to create new ideas and expand reasoning on old ideas. to man anything unknown is terrifying so individuals search for knowledge that create a reasoning for why something is the way it is. in cat's cradle, Vonnegut emphasizes on the idea that man cannot accept the unknown and due to the thirst of knowledge, man will stop at nothing to gain the reasoning they want. this will ultimately destroy mankind. In Vonnegut's quot "see the cat, see the cradle" i agree with Emma and Mackenzie's interprite of it. Just like the game cats cradle, the question man seek will never end. once one question is answer it is human nature to then question the reasoning of the answer that is givin, and because of the variety of culture there can never be a final answer. what i mean about thins is that no one thinks the same.just like the game cats cradle it is imposible to trully win an argument without the opposing individual dropping out.
I understand where Vonnegut means by this. In a world where science and technology expand and grow faster than ever before, we never stop to consider the ramifications of what new science and knoladge would bring. It seems that humans just want to be able to know everything in the world. That the only reason we exist is to anwser the questions. But the quest for knoladge is a neverending endevor that humans continue to embark on. And never for a moment do we ever want to face the truth that there are some questions that will never be anwsered. Yet we continue on against the current determined to obtain the knoladge never ment to be discovered
Due to the society that we has humans live in, no matter what we know or have, we are always unsatisfied and in search for more. It is simply human nature to desire and continuously acquire more knowledge. The phrase “see the cat, see the cradle”, is a perfect example of humans trying to read more in depth to simple things, just to try and gain more knowledge even if it is nonsense. Vonnegut says, “Man got to tell himself he understand…”even though he does not. Man does this because they think the more information they know the smarter they are, when they should really only be proud of what they understand, which is true knowledge. A cat’s cradle is an ideal example of how humans look at this piece of string and try to transform it in to something else that it really isn’t. At the end of the day no matter what is seen in the cat’s cradle it is still simply a piece of string.
Due to the society that we has humans live in, no matter what we know or have, we are always unsatisfied and in search for more. It is simply human nature to desire and continuously acquire more knowledge. The phrase “see the cat, see the cradle”, is a perfect example of humans trying to read more in depth to simple things, just to try and gain more knowledge even if it is nonsense. Vonnegut says, “Man got to tell himself he understand…”even though he does not. Man does this because they think the more information they know the smarter they are, when they should really only be proud of what they understand, which is true knowledge. A cat’s cradle is an ideal example of how humans look at this piece of string and try to transform it in to something else that it really isn’t. At the end of the day no matter what is seen in the cat’s cradle it is still simply a piece of string.
Garrison Marschner
In “Cats Cradle” Vonnegut talks about how the human race has a self-destructive lust for knowledge. Specifically, the knowledge of what the purpose of life is. We have many methods to try and discover the answers we seek, methods such as science and religion. Vonnegut illustrates his belief that this quest for knowledge is in vain as well as dangerous. Vonnegut mocks the very idea of religion with Bokonism. The books of Bokonon were opened with the statement “Nothing in this book is true,” Vonnegut is saying the same about all religion. However Vonnegut implies that religion is not without its propose, which he illustrates with the very creation of Bokonism. Bokonism was created with the idea that their must be good vs. evil, and so Bokonon became the evil force that must be hunted by the force of good, the government.
Vonnegut says that humans pretend to understand certain things even when they do not. I believe this to be true because humans are naturally afraid of what we do not understand. so in order to comfort ourselves we cope by believing what feels best. See the cat see the craddle is basically a metaphor for humans journey to understand what we do not, but the journey we are on never stops and that is what makes it ironic because were on a chase to understand something that we will never understand..
Society always has an infinite quench for knowledge and answers. We as humans realize that without knowledge there would be no advancement so nonetheless its necessary for knowledge, but not always necessary to have the answers for it. Vonnegut states that "Man got to tell himself he understand...," this is a dependable statement because humans always have this need to be right and have answers for everything, but Vonnegut suggests that even if we don’t know the answers to everything and that its better off just telling yourself that you understand to save you the trouble. Humans do eventually give up and give in to saying they know even when they don’t, like for instance “See the cat? See the cradle” In reality Vonnegut tries to convey that there really is no cat "No wonder kids grow up crazy. A cat's cradle is nothing but a bunch of X's between somebody's hands, and little kids look and look and look at all those X's..." "And?" "No damn cat, and no damn cradle." The actual game itself was designed to give an illusion where you’re suppose to see the cat but in reality never really do they just say they do. The same goes for answers your never going to have a definite answer in life.
Society always has an infinite quench for knowledge and answers. We as humans realize that without knowledge there would be no advancement so nonetheless its necessary for knowledge, but not always necessary to have the answers for it. Vonnegut states that "Man got to tell himself he understand...," this is a dependable statement because humans always have this need to be right and have answers for everything, but Vonnegut suggests that even if we don’t know the answers to everything and that its better off just telling yourself that you understand to save you the trouble. Humans do eventually give up and give in to saying they know even when they don’t, like for instance “See the cat? See the cradle” In reality Vonnegut tries to convey that there really is no cat "No wonder kids grow up crazy. A cat's cradle is nothing but a bunch of X's between somebody's hands, and little kids look and look and look at all those X's..." "And?" "No damn cat, and no damn cradle." The actual game itself was designed to give an illusion where you’re suppose to see the cat but in reality never really do they just say they do. The same goes for answers your never going to have a definite answer in life.
It is evident that it is human nature to have a yearn for answers. We, as humans, are afraid of the unknown so man strives to shed light on what he does not know or understand. I personally agree with the quote "'Man got to tell himself he understand...' even when he does not." I agree with it because people can get frustrated when they don't understand something so they pretend to just to put their minds to rest. "See the cat, see the cradle" is a great example of mankind's attempt to create and 'understanding' of something that they might not. Cats cradle is simply just string twisted, and warped in different ways to make it look like an endless trap. Cats cradle represents illuisons that mankind makes up and gets trapped in. In the novel, Angela believes that her relationship with her husband was wonderful, meanwhile everyone else saw he was horrible to her. “Her husband is mean as hell to her... He hardly ever comes home—and when he does, he’s drunk and generally covered in lipstick”
Newt to Jonah(pg179). This conveys that mankind warps the truth and gets trapped in the lies just to be happy and untroubled by unknown.
Kirt Vonnegut states in his novel that “man got to tell himself he understand…” which can also mean that over time humans have begun to think that we know everything. In my opinion I believe that this is true, but I have also realized that every time humans find something new or are able to further explain something, there is always another topic that arises and new things to fully understand (i.e. space). This relates to the novel Cat’s Cradle because Vonnegut tells the story of how when humans discovered how to create the atomic bomb, that was it, that was the end of the world. I believe this relates to the human understanding because although we think that this bomb is extremely power, over time we have created thousands of missiles that are a thousand time more powerful and devastating than weapons such as the atomic bomb. Throughout the novel Vonnegut mentions the phrase “See the cat, see the cradle.” I believe that this statement means that humans may not know what a “Cat’s Cradle” is but because someone asks if another person can see this cradle, naturally a person will say “yes” because that person does not want to seem stupid or weird to the other person.
As Vonnegut tells us, it is human nature to have knowledge and answers to questions on many subjects. There may be no reason for this, yet one must have a full understanding. When Vonnegut says "Man got to tell himself..." I think this means that when we don't understand, we create even more questions and that knowledge is a long journey. "see the cat, see the cradle" means that it's pretty much a pointless game and that finding the meaning of things can be endess.
As humans, it is in our nature to desire more out of life, and are never truly satisfied with "average". Without knowledge and discoveries, society would not be able to advance and mature into something greater. Having the ability to define every aspect of society makes humans feel safe. "Man got to tell himself he understand.. even when he does not " ' Shows that even when mankind doesn't have the answer to everything, we lie to ourselves. We assume the answer, because that is what society has concluded to be the "norm". Challenging that would only make a person seem ignorant, making them an outcast even if they have the right idea."See the cat?, See the cradle" is a perfect example of this, because of the actual game itself. Weaving string between your hands is supposed to make a picture of a cat, people claim they see the illusion, when they honestly had no idea what you were making. What Vonnegut is trying to convey is that human beings are conformist's, and even when we don't fully understand something, we claim we do in order to not seem week/ignorant, and fit in with the rest of society. Vonnegut shows how man kinds insatiable appetite for knowledge doesn't just improve our world, it destroys it.
Humans are constantly trying to understand new knowledge. We are constantly questioning and learning, but do not actually know if the knowledge we are acquiring is true or not. The phrase, "see the cat see the cradle," explains how when we learn new knowledge we do not even know the accuracy of it. In the novel Cat's Cradle, the characters see someone playing with a piece of string and automatically assume that it is a "cat's cradle" simply because a long time ago someone had told them that. The piece of string that people play with does not actually make a cat's cradle though. This example in the book shows how human nature will believe that what they are learning is true even though it may not be. The cat's cradle phrase is proven true throughout everyone's lives. In science, teachers will elaborate on evolution and how man became man. Has anyone actually seen a primate evolve into a human? No, but we believe it simply because the theory has been passed down generation after generation.
Cats Cradle exposes how the human condition causes us to accept ideas that are given to us as reality without any proof of evidence. When a cats cradle is presented to someone and asked about it, the average person would state it as being a cats cradle. But what is a cats cradle? In reality it is nothing. "No damn cat, no damn cradle." Kurt Vonnegut is revealing to us, our flaw of not asking questions about the thoughts presented to us that we accept as fact. As Robby said, "we avoid asking questions" in an attempt to not stand out, when we are really hurting ourselves by not searching for the truth in our lives.
"Man got to tell himself he understand.." - Vonnegut. All humans ask questions so that they can better understand whatever it is they want to know about. Although we question and question, the things that we learn may not be completely correct. Not every question has an answer, so this leads people to think beyond what they have been told by scientists, teachers, and textbooks. Because of these ideas that have been passed down through the generations, no one really questions them. We just believe them.
Humans are never satisfied until they can understand everything around them to the fullest. Greed and appetite is one of mans greatest character flaws. Man learns and matures the best through failure. We as humans like to try, fail and try again. We do this because we are too curious not to. The expression "see the cat, see the cradle" demonstrates that humans are so naive. The answer that they are looking for might be right in their face, but they could not see it. The constand demand for knowledge is never ending. When a person finally finds out what they have been longing for, they will question something else and it will be an endless cycle.
When Vonnegut says "Man got to tell himself he understand" he means that man would rather pretend he understands something that admit he's confused. The irony is in fear of looking stupid man acts like he knows whats going but in reality the stupidest thing he can do is just that. For if you don't ask questions you can never learn. When Newt says "See the cat, see the cradle" he means that nothing really seems as they appear. A cat's cradle looks nothing like a cat or a cradle, just like how somebody can appear happy yet feel very sad.
In order to "succeed" in this world, one must be experienced and knowledgable. It is hard for that to happen due to the face that we as humans believe things to be true because people who lived before us deemed it true. We see the cat we see the cradle. We dont know whats true and what isn't if we havent experienced it ourselves. We search for many of life's mysteries, sometimes we do sometimes we come up short, but we never stop searching for answers. New questions every day, new answers every day. No more cat no more cradle experience life, and have your questions answered.
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