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Chapter 84
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
Frank’s servants bring the group gasoline lanterns. Angela and Newt tell John that Dr. Hoenikker had a twin brother, who is called Rudolph and makes music-boxes in Switzerland. He also had a sister.
Dr. Hoenikker’s brother serves as a distant figure who reminds the reader that the doctor’s intelligence could easily have been put to more harmless use.
Themes
John excuses himself and asks Stanley if there is a copy of The Books of Bokonon in the house. Stanley pretends not to know anything about the book, then calls its filth, before fetching a copy for John. John reads about the “Bokononist cosmogony,” which involves a conflict between the sun and the moon.
John is intrigued by Bokononism by this point. Stanley keeps up the pretense that nobody practices Bokononism, but not for long.
Themes
According to Bokonon, the sun, borasisi, held the moon, pabu, in its arms, wanting a “fiery child.” But all of the moon’s children were cold, which angered the sun, who threw them away. These became the planets. The moon was cast away too, and went to live with her “favourite child, which was Earth.” Bokonon calls his own cosmogony “Foma! Lies!”
The Bokononist cosmogony is unexpectedly beautiful, even if it is complete “foma.” This highlights the literary worth of religious texts while undermining their value as “truth.” The petty fight between the sun and the moon is also emblematic of humankind’s readiness for conflict.
Themes
