Collision between Science and Religion: A Critical Study of Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle

Abstract

This paper attempts to explore the intuitive intimacy of human in the novel, Cat’s Cradle (1963), of Vonnegut.  It also seeks to show that mankind’s blind faith in the benefits of scientific discoveries, without taking into consideration the ethical implications of these discoveries, can lead to disaster and that, in contrast, the practice of focusing on our better nature leads, more often than not, to better human relations and, therefore, may be preferable, in spite of the fact that such optimistic perceptions may differ from reality. Vonnegut’s primary interest is not so much in the delineation of external events as in the exploration of those negative emotional undercurrents which constitute the darker side of human nature and underlie man's inhumanity to man.