I think one of the characteristics that makes Cat’s Cradle classifiable under postmodernist literature would have to be its spontaneity and very dark humor. Throughout the novel, Vonnegut playfully attacks religion, science, and others. For the most part, the humorous, playful tone and the jumpy style cancel out the serious underlying implications that Vonnegut is attempting to show. I believe that Cat’s Cradle can also be shown as a postmodernism novel through its absurd situations. The book parodies humanity’s capacity for destruction of the very earth with Ice Nine. If Felix Hoenikker were to have let the Ice Nine into any of the world’s water supplies, the entire population would be wiped out. This dark humor is utilized by Vonnegut to show that even though humanity has progressed so far technologically wise, we are still oblivious to many possibilities for error. This may be connected to Brave New World in that even though society seems to be advancing with leaps forward in technology; in reality technology becomes a hindrance to society when even those who created it do not have the power to control it. It ends up consuming the society as a whole, and humanity’s failure to see there is a problem is parodied by Vonnegut throughout the novel. Cat’s Cradle also utilizes dark humor in order to attack religion lightheartedly. In the made up religion in the novel, Bokononism, even the first few verses in their book, (Maybe similar to the Holy Bible?) state: “All of the true things that I am to tell you are shameless lies.” This attack on religion attempts to show how simply people conform to beliefs held by the majority. How people believe that there is a bearded man in the sky just because they want to believe something so bad. Through this, Vonnegut parodies humanity’s need to be socially accepted.
