Cat's Cradle and its Parallel to Postmodernism

         The general meaning of Postmodernism is the search for truth and reason in things.  In Jim Powell’s Postmodernism for Beginner,  it describes how “Modern artists began to look for some internal value that was beyond all the chaos.”  They wanted to see the big picture and then explain things that were first viewed as Chaotic.  In Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, Postmodernism is prevalent.  At the beginning readers hear some things about Bokonnism.  In the book it explains how, “All of the true things I am about to tell you are harmless lies.” (Vonnegut 10)  This religion serves the people in a couple different ways.  It gives them something to believe and follow but at the same time they don’t have to search for the deeper mean and find truth or reason.  The book claims its made up with lies, this gives the people the justification of believing in a deeper meaning but never having to find the underlining meaning, its all logical.  In the novel, John goes to a laboratory for one of his articles.  He talks to one of the director and finds that the main purpose of the place was to find clarity in things around the world.  He explains how, “Nothing generous about it.  New knowledge is the most valuable commodity on earth.  The more truth we have to work with, the richer we become.” (Vonnegut 42) Their search is to find the deeper meaning and find knowledge.  This parallels with Postmodernism and the search for truth and reason.  The laboratory doesn’t force its scientist to research what they tell them to, rather the scientist are capable of researching what interests them.  Their main goal is to find knowledge and reason to things that take place around the world.  In their eyes it makes them richer by knowing the truth, similar to Postmodernist believe.