Cat’s Cradle

Cat’s Cradle

by

Kurt Vonnegut

Newton “Newt” Hoenikker is the youngest of Dr. Hoenikker’s children and is described as a “midget.” He is hoodwinked by another midget (and Soviet spy), Zinka, into giving up the ice-nine technology—which John realizes has put it in the hands of the Soviet Union (and thus echoing the reality of the Cold War at the time of Vonnegut’s writing). Newt likes to paint in black scrawls, explaining that one of his creations is a cat’s cradle. The cat’s cradle seems to have stuck with Newt since the day the atom bomb was dropped; only six years old at the time, his father had frightened him by insisting on showing him the old trick with string. Newt is one of the survivors after the ice-nine incident and continues to paint.

Newt Hoenikker Quotes in Cat’s Cradle

The Cat’s Cradle quotes below are all either spoken by Newt Hoenikker or refer to Newt Hoenikker. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Science and Morality Theme Icon
).
Chapter 5 Quotes

“But he went down on his knees on the carpet next to me, and he showed me his teeth, and he waved that tangle of string in my face. ‘See? See? See?’ he asked. ‘Cat’s cradle. See the cat’s cradle? See where the nice pussycat sleeps? Meow. Meow.’

“His pores looked as big as craters on the moon. His ears and nostrils were stuffed with hair. Cigar smoke made him smell like the mouth of Hell. So close up, my father was the ugliest thing I had ever seen. I dream about it all the time.

“And then he sang. ‘Rockabye catsy, in the tree top’; he sang, ‘when the wind blows, the cray-dull will rock. It the bough breaks, the cray-dull will fall. Down will come cray-dull, catsy, and all.’”

Related Characters: Newt Hoenikker (speaker), John, Dr. Felix Hoenikker
Related Symbols: Cat’s Cradle
Page Number: 12
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

There are lots of other good anecdotes about the bomb and Father, from other days. For instance, do you know the story about Father on the day they first tested a bomb out at Alamogordo? After the thing went off, after it was a sure thing that America could wipe out a city with just one bomb, a scientist turned to Father and said, ‘Science has now known sin.’ And do you know what Father said? He said, ‘What is sin?’

Related Characters: Newt Hoenikker (speaker), John, Dr. Felix Hoenikker
Page Number: 17
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 51 Quotes

“I might as well tell you,” Angela said to me, “Dr. Breed told me I wasn’t supposed to co-operate with you. He said you weren’t interested in giving a fair picture of Father.” She showed me that she didn’t like me for that.

I placated her some by telling her that the book would probably never be done anyway, that I no longer had a clear idea of what it would or should mean.

“Well, if you ever do do the book, you better make Father a saint, because that’s what he was.”

Related Characters: Angela Hoenikker (speaker), Newt Hoenikker (speaker), Dr. Felix Hoenikker, Dr. Asa Breed
Page Number: 112
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 110 Quotes

From what Frank had said before he slammed the door, I gathered that the Republic of San Lorenzo and the three Hoenikkers weren’t the only ones who had ice-nine. Apparently the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics had it, too. The United States had obtained it through Angela’s husband, whose plant in Indianapolis was understand­ably surrounded by electrified fences and homicidal German shepherds. And Soviet Russia had come by it through Newt’s little Zinka, that winsome troll of Ukrainian ballet.

Related Characters: John (speaker), Dr. Felix Hoenikker, Frank Hoenikker, Angela Hoenikker , Newt Hoenikker, Zinka, Harrison C. Conners
Related Symbols: Ice-Nine
Page Number: 244
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Cat’s Cradle LitChart as a printable PDF.
Cat’s Cradle PDF

Newt Hoenikker Quotes in Cat’s Cradle

The Cat’s Cradle quotes below are all either spoken by Newt Hoenikker or refer to Newt Hoenikker. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Science and Morality Theme Icon
).
Chapter 5 Quotes

“But he went down on his knees on the carpet next to me, and he showed me his teeth, and he waved that tangle of string in my face. ‘See? See? See?’ he asked. ‘Cat’s cradle. See the cat’s cradle? See where the nice pussycat sleeps? Meow. Meow.’

“His pores looked as big as craters on the moon. His ears and nostrils were stuffed with hair. Cigar smoke made him smell like the mouth of Hell. So close up, my father was the ugliest thing I had ever seen. I dream about it all the time.

“And then he sang. ‘Rockabye catsy, in the tree top’; he sang, ‘when the wind blows, the cray-dull will rock. It the bough breaks, the cray-dull will fall. Down will come cray-dull, catsy, and all.’”

Related Characters: Newt Hoenikker (speaker), John, Dr. Felix Hoenikker
Related Symbols: Cat’s Cradle
Page Number: 12
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

There are lots of other good anecdotes about the bomb and Father, from other days. For instance, do you know the story about Father on the day they first tested a bomb out at Alamogordo? After the thing went off, after it was a sure thing that America could wipe out a city with just one bomb, a scientist turned to Father and said, ‘Science has now known sin.’ And do you know what Father said? He said, ‘What is sin?’

Related Characters: Newt Hoenikker (speaker), John, Dr. Felix Hoenikker
Page Number: 17
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 51 Quotes

“I might as well tell you,” Angela said to me, “Dr. Breed told me I wasn’t supposed to co-operate with you. He said you weren’t interested in giving a fair picture of Father.” She showed me that she didn’t like me for that.

I placated her some by telling her that the book would probably never be done anyway, that I no longer had a clear idea of what it would or should mean.

“Well, if you ever do do the book, you better make Father a saint, because that’s what he was.”

Related Characters: Angela Hoenikker (speaker), Newt Hoenikker (speaker), Dr. Felix Hoenikker, Dr. Asa Breed
Page Number: 112
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 110 Quotes

From what Frank had said before he slammed the door, I gathered that the Republic of San Lorenzo and the three Hoenikkers weren’t the only ones who had ice-nine. Apparently the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics had it, too. The United States had obtained it through Angela’s husband, whose plant in Indianapolis was understand­ably surrounded by electrified fences and homicidal German shepherds. And Soviet Russia had come by it through Newt’s little Zinka, that winsome troll of Ukrainian ballet.

Related Characters: John (speaker), Dr. Felix Hoenikker, Frank Hoenikker, Angela Hoenikker , Newt Hoenikker, Zinka, Harrison C. Conners
Related Symbols: Ice-Nine
Page Number: 244
Explanation and Analysis: