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Chapter 33
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
“Vin-dit” is the Bokononist word for a “sudden, very personal show in the direction of Bokononism.” The cab driver, weeping, looks at a stone angel and insists he wants to buy it for his mother’s grave. Marvin continues talking about the Hoenikkers. He explains that Emily married Felix because she believed “his mind was tuned to the biggest music there was, the music of the stars.” He also explains that nobody has seen Frank since the day of Dr. Hoenikker’s funeral.
Emily had a romanticized notion of Dr. Hoenikker’s work, echoing the views of Dr. Breed. Thinking of Dr. Hoenikker’s mind as being tuned to the music of the stars hints at his understanding of the fabric of existence—the molecular world—but also distances himself from the earthly repercussions of his work.
Themes
John says he’s heard that Frank is wanted by the police. Marvin explains that Frank used to work at “Jack’s Hobby Shop”; when he left town, he worked in another model shop which turned out to be a front for a car-stealing operation. Newt, he says, is probably with Angela in Indianapolis. He describes Angela as “big” and “gawky,” and talks about how she used to lock herself in her room and play clarinet along with her records.
Frank, at this stage, is an increasingly notable absence, with numerous theories given as to his whereabouts. It is known, however, that he has been missing since his father died, indicating that this event was a rupture in his life.
Themes
The cab driver asks Marvin how much he wants for the stone angel, but Marvin insists it isn’t for sale. He explains that the stone was commissioned by a German immigrant whose wife had died of smallpox. He had ordered the stone from Marvin’s great-grandfather, but was robbed of all his money. The man said he would come back to pay for the angel. John notices that the family name on the stone is his own.
The story about the stone angel, like the cab driver’s grief over his mother, creates a sense of distant sadness. The reduction of the German man’s life to a story is not dissimilar from the way casualties in war become mere statistics—the humans behind the stories or statistics get lost in the distance of time and space.
Themes
