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Motifs
Definition of Paradox
A paradox is a figure of speech that seems to contradict itself, but which, upon further examination, contains some kernel of truth or reason. Oscar Wilde's famous declaration that "Life is... read full definition
A paradox is a figure of speech that seems to contradict itself, but which, upon further examination, contains some kernel of truth or reason. Oscar... read full definition
A paradox is a figure of speech that seems to contradict itself, but which, upon further examination, contains some kernel... read full definition
Paradox
Explanation and Analysis—Shameless Lies:
Bokonon minces no words about the irony upon which he founded his religion. In Chapter 4, John explains how the first sentence in The Books of Bokonon claims that “all of the true things I am about to tell you are shameless lies.”
This paradox resembles a slight variant of the Cretan paradox—it self-references to the point of breaking the binaries of logic. Bokonon’s statements of truth, the warning suggests, are also lies. But if this warning itself is a “true thing,” then it must also somehow be false. The sentence—on a literal, logical reading—does not make any sense.
Yet it embodies the impossible demands that Bokonon creates for both his followers and himself. Bokononism asks of its believers to recognize its lies and still have faith in them—to consciously recognize falsehoods and embrace them. Bokonon persecutes himself. His religion brings together so many negations and incompatibilities that it ceases to be comprehensible. In Bokonon’s word of warning and his practice, Cat’s Cradle reveals the often inexplicable, illogical premises underlying Bokononism and religion itself.
Beyond criticizing religion, though, this paradox provides meta-commentary about the novel itself. The first sentence of The Books of Bokonon recalls the sly epigraph that prefaces Cat’s Cradle: “nothing in this book is true.” Like the absurd prophet, Vonnegut calls attention to the fictional status of the novel itself. He throws his own artistic enterprise into the fray of sophistry, raising deeper questions about the moral difference between art and lies.
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