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Chapter 24
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Cat’s Cradle, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Science and Morality
Religion
Governance, Politics, and Nationhood
Absurdity and Meaninglessness
Summary
Analysis
John returns to the story about his visit to the laboratory center. After his fall-out with Dr. Breed, Miss Faust is ordered to show him the door. On the way out, he convinces her to show him Dr. Hoenikker’s lab first. She tells him that she doesn’t think Dr. Hoenikker was “knowable.” All he was interested in, according to what Dr. Breed told her, was “truth.” She says she can’t understand how that could be enough for someone.
Miss Faust reinforces the idea that there was something fundamentally inhumane about Dr. Hoenikker—namely, his lack of empathy and relatability. Miss Faust acts as a mouthpiece that questions the value of “truth,” suggesting that truth has no worth outside of the use it is put to.
Themes
