"Do you see the cat? Do you see the cradle?" replies the dwarf Newt in an attempt to explain the inspiration for one of his grotesque and confusing paintings. This singular quote gives its name to Kurt Vonnegut's novel Cat's Cradle and embodies the leitmotif of this ironic canon about religion, sex, politics and everything in between. In the years following its publication, Vonnegut's novel became fodder for the countercultural movement of the 1960s because it countered the restrictive social norms of mainstream culture. Among the institutions he attacks in the novel, religion is the most obvious. Vonnegut analyzes the human inclination to have something to believe in, questioning not only the nature of organized religion, but its validity and role in society. Vonnegut creates a picturesque island called San Lorenzo, whose national religion is the work of a nihilistic poet. Vonnegut uses this religion, called “Bokononism,” as a vehicle for the revelation (no pun intended) that religion is as substantial as a “cat's cradle.” Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Vonnegut introduces the "cat's cradle" as a metaphor for different interpretations of life. “A cat's cradle is nothing but a bunch of in your face. And although there is "no damn cat and no damn cradle" (166) the "babies look and look and look at all those X's (166). According to Newt's cradle metaphor, you see what you want." cat? Do you see the crib?" (179) says Newt in response to questions about his sister's seemingly perfect marriage to Jesus Christ, both of whom are not what people think they are. This is the philosophy Vonnegut espouses throughout the novel. people tend to see what they want and read what is in reality. Religion is no exception to this Vonnegut creates a religion to question the role of faith in society and the validity of traditional religious assumptions absolute questions during a dialogue. the scientist Felix Hoenikker and a secretary, Miss Faust. “God is love” (55) the latter states “What is God? What is love?" (55) answers the first. According to the Books of Bokonon (the founder of Vonnegut's fictitious religion), one should "believe in the fomas [harmless falsehoods] that make you brave, kind, healthy and happy" ( i) To understand this statement, one must take into account the Bokononist premise that "all religions are nothing but lies" (219). lies" (6) as long as it inspires its followers to be "kind, healthy and happy ". Miss Faust is content to believe in the Christian presumption that God is love without any physical evidence "no matter what Dr. Hoenikker says" (55). Yet, if this belief makes Miss Faust all of the above-mentioned things, her religion can be said to be “useful.” This is his "cat's cradle". Christianity. Vonnegut later uses his fictional religion to model how religion takes into account the nature of things and interprets them based on assumptions. His vehicle for reaching this point is the cosmogony found in the Books of Bokonon. In it Bokonon observes planetary orbits. The hypothesis that a follower of Bokononism must make is that the sun is a living entity and has a name, "Borasisi", and that it has somehow generated children with another living entity, the moon, whose name is “Pabu.” Bokonon then tells the story of how Pabu gave birth to unsatisfactory children (who became the planets orbiting "at a safe distance" (191)) and of Pabu's exile to."