Boko-maru is a
Bokononist religious ritual that consists of two people putting their feet
together in order to allow their souls to mingle (Get it? Sole-to-sole). It is
considered by the San Lorenzan people to be as personal and intimate as we
consider sex to be. From a practical standpoint, this obviously serves no
purpose and achieves nothing. However, Vonnegut uses this to essentially embody
his main argument: the sole purpose of religion is to make people feel happy
and fulfilled. If it comforts the Bokononists, why not?
Ice-nine is an extremely
important plot element in Cat’s Cradle. As a person interested in things
related to science, I was greatly intrigued by the concept of ice-nine, and did
some more research about it on my own (ice-nine cannot exist, of course, but
there are other forms of ice with different properties that can exist at lower
temperatures and pressures such as ice-II). Anyway, with its potential for mass
devastation and its description in the following passage, ice nine obviously
parallels the atomic bombs being developed during the Cold War:
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. (p.244)
During the cold war of
course, both the United States and the Soviet Union carried larges stores of
nuclear weapons. The total destructive power that each side carried actually
ensured peace due to the threat of M.A.D. (mutually assured destruction),
similar to the threat that ice-nine poses. Interestingly, the like with
ice-nine in Cat’s Cradle, the Soviet Union had obtained classified research on
nuclear weapons through spies in the U.S. as well. At the end of the book,
after some of the ice-nine fell into the ocean and the world froze over, most
life on San Lorenzo (and presumably the Earth) had died. However, John discovered
that ants were pretty much the only insects to have survived:
The experiment had solved in short order the mystery of how ants could survive in a waterless world. As far as I know, they were the only insects that did survive, and they did it by forming with their bodies tight balls around grains of ice-nine. They would generate enough heat at the center to kill half their number and produce one bead of dew. The dew was drinkable. The corpses were edible. (p.280)
Although impressive, I
believe that Vonnegut is condemning, rather than espousing, the ants’ ability
to survive. The ants survived because they live a meager existence. Their
entire life is devoted first and foremost to the colony. Sure, teamwork and
cooperation are qualities to be respected and admired, but while humanism
emphasizes one’s individual existence and experiences in life, ants are like
the antithesis of humanism – their individual lives mean next to nothing.
Although inhuman, the ability of ants to instinctively coordinate the entire colony into a single functional entity is truly incredible. It’s something I’ve never seen before in any other examples in nature. I’ve attached a video below that demonstrates this phenomenon:
Although inhuman, the ability of ants to instinctively coordinate the entire colony into a single functional entity is truly incredible. It’s something I’ve never seen before in any other examples in nature. I’ve attached a video below that demonstrates this phenomenon: