Vonnegut also places a
great deal of emphasis on humanism, an outlook or system of thought attaching
prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters. In
Vonnegut’s eyes, the most sacred thing in the universe is human life, and
everything about it, including our capacity for emotions, empathy, and
experiences:
What is sacred to Bokononism?" I asked after a while.
"Not even God, as near as I can tell."
"Nothing?"
"Just one thing."I made some guesses. "The ocean? The sun?"
"Man," said Frank. "That's all. Just man." (p.211)
This concept of humanism
is contrasted sharply with the scientists in the novel, and more generally the
scientific pursuit of truth. As John
says in the beginning of the book: “My book is going to emphasize the human rather
than the technical side of the bomb” (p.7) In doing research for
his book, John interviews various people at the Research Laboratory of the
General Forge and Foundry Company:
“There was one where he bet I couldn’t tell him anything that was absolutely true. So I said to him, ‘God is love.’”
“And what did he say?”
“He said, ‘What is God? What is love?’” (p.54)
Felix Hoenikker and many
of the other scientists throughout the novel are portrayed as cold,
calculating, and unfeeling. They are not truly mean – it’s just that they have
absolutely no regard for the rest of the human race and no sense of moral
responsibility. They are incapable of empathy or love. In a sense, they are
inhuman. By contrast, Felix Hoenikker’s daughter, Angela Hoenikker is caring
and empathetic:
“Anyway,” said Angela, “when we got back home, we found him in the chair.” She shook her head. “I don’t think he suffered any. He just looked asleep. He couldn’t have looked like that if there’d been the least bit of pain.” (p.115)
From a scientific point
of view, dying is dying. The body shuts down and the person is just gone. His
memories are gone; his soul doesn’t exist anymore. If there was anytime at all
to feel pain, it would be those last few minutes because it’s going to
completely end soon anyway. Angela’s consideration of her father’s comfort just
before death is of course a very “humanist” way of thought. After Angela dies
an “ideal” death at the end of the book by being immortalized into a frozen
statue when she touched her clarinet (which was covered in ice nine) to her
mouth, her brother Newt comments to John: "Well, maybe you can find some
neat way to die, too," (p.285)
The following quote is fairly ironic:
“I am a very bad scientist. I will do anything to make a human being feel better, even if it's unscientific. No scientist worthy of the name could say such a thing." (p.219)Despite what he says, this scientist is actually the most worthy scientist in the book due to his consideration for the wellbeing of other human beings. Felix Hoenikker, despite being a brilliant scientist, is flawed as a human being in almost every other way:
“… but how the hell innocent is a man who helps make a thing like an atomic bomb? And how can you say a man had a good mind when he couldn’t even bother to do anything when the best-hearted, most beautiful woman in the world, his own wife, was dying for lack of love and understanding …” (p.68)